
'./ 



*\ 



■£ 



< /y I 



A 






x 00 ^ 



^ -V 



^ 



* v * A 



e>^ 



■ 




HOW OUR CHURCH 

CAME TO 

OUR COUNTRY 



A Series of Illustrated Papers 

Edited by 

HUGH L. BURLESON, D.D. 

Bishop of South Dakota 



* 



MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING CO. 

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN 



JS*$i 



Copyright 1920 
MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING CO. 



©CLA570809 



>0 



1 

CONTENTS 

How Our Church Came to — 

I. — Virginia. Et. Kev. H. L. Burleson, D.D. ------ l 

II. — Massachusetts. Lydia Averell Hough ------- 9 

III. — Connecticut. Kev. Samuel Hart, D.D. 17 

IV. — Maryland. Percy G. Skirven --------- 25 

V.— New York. Rev. Arthur W. Jenks, D.D. ------ 33 

VI.— Pennsylvania. Rev. L. N. Caley, D.D. 41 

VII. — New Jersey 49 

VIII.— Ohio. Elisabeth Matthews - - - - - 57 

IX.— Illinois. Rev. Francis J. Hall, D.D. ------- 65 

X. — Georgia. Rev. James B. Lawrence -------- 73 

XI.— Tennessee. Rev. E. Clowes Chorley, D.D. ------ 81 

XII. — California. Rev. Frank H. Church - - - 89 

XIII.— Missouri. Rev. E. Clowes Chorley, D.D. ------ 97 

XIV. — Rhode Island. Rev. F. E. Seymour 105 

XV. — Wisconsin. Rev. Henry Willmann 113 

XVI.— Minnesota 121 

XVII.— Florida. Rev. E. Clowes Chorley, D.D. 129 

XVIII.— The Oregon Country. Rt. Rev. W. T. Sumner, D.D. - - - 137 

XIX. — Vermont. Kathleen Hore - 145 

XX. — Dakota. Bishop Burleson ---------- 153 

XXL— Long Island. Rev. T. J. Lacey, Ph.D. ------- 161 

XXIL— Mississippi. Rev. Nowell Logan, D.D. 169 

XXIIL— Michigan. Rev. Paul Ziegler --------- 177 

XXIV. — Montana, Idaho, and Utah. Bishop Tuttle ------ 185 

XXV.— Maine. Marguerite Ogden - 193 

XXVI.— Delaware ------ - - • - 201 

XXVIL— South Carolina. Rev. John Kershaw, D.D. - - - - - 209 



XXVIII. — New Hampshire. Eev. Lucius Waterman, D.D. - - - 217 

XXIX. — North Carolina. Bishop Cheshire - 225 

XXX.— Alabama. Eev. K. H. Cobbs, D.D. -,------ 233 

XXXI. — Indiana. Eev. Wm. Burrows --------- 241 

XXXII.— Colorado. Eev. Benjamin W. Bonell ------- 249 

XXXIII. — Kentucky. Bishop Woodcock --------- 257 

XXXIV.— Louisiana. Eev. Gardiner L. Tucker ------- 265 

XXXV.— Texas. Eev. Alfred W. S. Garden -------- 273 



Note. — Each of these chapters may be obtained separately in leaflet form from the 
publishers at three and five cents per copy. 



^oto <&uv Cfmrri) Came to <®uv Country 



Editorial Note : This series of articles has been written to provide material 
for missionary lessons. They are intended for the use of older classes in the 
Sunday-school, Junior Auxiliaries, guilds or societies of adults. Many mission 
study classes devoting attention to the history of our domestic missions will find 
in these lessons a background for the study of our own Church history by show- 
ing how foundations were laid within the area of certain states. The series was 
begun and prepared for- the most part under the direction of Bishop Burleson, 
and the Church is greatly indebted to him for this contribution to the literature 
of missions. 

I. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO VIRGINIA 

By the Rt. Rev. Hugh Latimer Burleson, S.T.D. 



I. Seeds That Failed 

THE planting of the Church in 
our land, like any other sowing, 
was not uniformly successful. 
Before we pass to the field where the 
seed of the kingdom, as represented 
by the ancient Anglican Communion, 
began to "take root downward and 
bear fruit upward," it will be well 
to review briefly certain earlier in- 
stances which pointed toward and con- 
tributed to the successful venture in 
Virginia. 

It is of course matter of common 
knowledge that 
the first re- 
ported use of 
our Liturgy on 
the soil of our 
country took 
place not in the 
East, but in 
the Far West, 
when Sir Fran- 
cis Drake, in 
his ship Golden 
Hind, with his 
crew of sea- 
d o g s, having 
passed through 
the Straits of 
Magellan and 
sailed north, 



discovered the country which is 
.now California and Oregon, but 
which in memory of the white 
cliffs of his own land he named Al- 
bion. On the Eve of St. John Bap- 
tist, 1579, he sailed into a "fayre goode 
baye" and called his company to 
prayers. Around the little band as 
they landed, the wondering, friendly 
Indians gathered, bringing presents 
to the strangers, and looking on in 
astonishment as these seasoned war- 
riors fell upon their knees in thanks- 
giving, led by the chaplain, the Rev. 
Francis Fletcher. For only a short 




THE LANDING AT JAMESTOWN 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



time the white men tarried, and then 
sailed away, leaving the puzzled 
savages gazing after them with regret, 
their hearts perhaps having received 
some faint impression of the God 
which the white man worshiped. 
Drake is said to have expressed him- 
self as wishing that a people so tract- 
able and loving might be brought by 
the preaching of the Gospel to the 
knowledge of the Everlasting God. 
Here was the hint of the missionary 
impulse which we find running 
through the later attempts at settle- 
ment by the Anglo-Saxon people. 

Next we remember the lost colony 
of Roanoke, the first organized at- 
tempt at settlement made in 1587, 
when Sir Walter Raleigh sent out 150 
people, most of them sadly unfitted 
for the work of pioneering, who 
landed at Roanoke Island in the 
country named Virginia, after the 
maiden queen. Women accompanied 
the colony, one the daughter of White, 
the Governor, and mother of Virginia 
Dare, who was the first white child 
born in an English settlement in 
America. All these were Church folk 
and brought with them the Prayer 
Book and its ways, but they were ill 
fitted for their enterprise. Ignorance 
and improvidence, wanton quarrels 
among themselves and with the 
natives, soon brought them to want 
and almost despair. Their governor, 
after a manful effort to save the situ- 
ation, was at his wits end when an 
English man-of-war was hailed on 
her way home from the West Indies. 
Her commander offered to take back 
to England those who wished to go. 
Her chaplain landed and baptized 
Virginia Dare and Manteo, the first 
convert among the Indians. These 
were the "first fruits," not only of the 
Church of England, but of Christian- 
ity, in the Colonies.* 

Nearly half the colony returned to 
England, with them Governor White, 
who went to seek aid, leaving behind 

* See McConnell, History of the American 
Episcopal Church, p. 15. 



his daughter and her child, but he 
encountered difficulties, and when at 
the end of some three years a ship 
sought out the place, no sign remained 
of the colony of Roanoke. What hap- 
pened has never been told, though In- 
dians with blue eyes and brown hair, 
discovered a half-century later, were 
thought to have in their veins some 
blood of Roanoke's lost colony; but 
Christianity at any rate had disap- 
peared so far as Roanoke was con- 
cerned. 

Another attempt at sowing calls for 
our notice, especially because it 
lingered for many years though never 
coming to real fruitage. In the spring 
of 1605, two years before the found- 
ing of Jamestown, a company landed 
at the mouth of the Kennebec, in 
Maine. Here they spent the summer, 
building cabins and planting gardens, 
but the long, bleak winter discouraged 
them and they returned to England, 
carrying with them some Indian cap- 
tives. This colony of the Kennebec — 
known as the Gorges colony from its 
promoter, Sir Ferdinandc Gorges, a 
zealous Churchman — was re-establish- 
ed after a year or two and a per- 
manent settlement was made, includ- 
ing a fort, a log church and fifty 
cabins. This foothold of the Church 
maintained a precarious existence for 
many years and was at times ex- 
tinguished. Entirely concerned in 
preserving its own spark of life, it 
cannot be counted as a serious at- 
tempt to plant the Church, or even to 
promote colonization. Other land- 
ings and attempts at colonization 
there were, but those mentioned 
were the chief ones, and are typical 
of the rest. All failed of any real suc- 
cess or permanency. The Church had 
still to secure vantage ground from 
which to spread the Gospel of Christ 
in the new land. 

II. Seed Which Took Root 
Up to this time all the ventures of 
colonization had been enterprises of 
individuals or companies, without the 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



4 



definite backing of either Church or 
State. But with the year 1606 we 
enter a new era. The Spanish Ar- 
mada had just been defeated, and the 
world was at peace. The oceans were 
at last a free highway and thousands 
of Englishmen turned from conquest 
to colonization. Groups of men in- 
ured to hardships in the wars and keen 
for adventure soon found the quiet 
of England oppressive; the day of 
the pioneer had begun. 

The dream of Sir Walter Raleigh 
had not been forgotten and his zealous 
interest in Virginia had awakened the 
enthusiasm of others. A company 
was formed under charter of King 
James, and stout Captain Christopher 
Newport, on the 19th of 
December,* 1607, set sail 
with a little company in the 
three vessels, Susan Con- 
stant, Godspeed and Discov- 
ery, bound for Virginia. It 
was a company of Church- 
men, financed by 
Churchmen, seeking 
to reproduce across 
the ocean the Church 
of their own land. 
Captain John Smith 
was the military com- 
mander and as chap- 
lain there went the 
good priest Robert 
Hunt. He was the 
first priest of the 
Church of England 
to settle in America. 
The three little ves- 
sels carried about a 
hundred and fifty 
people, and they 
were better selected 
for their purpose 
than those of the 
Roanoke colony, but 
difficulties were en- 
countered from the 
outset. For s i x 
weeks unfavorable 
winds held them in 



sight of England — a great trial of 
their steadfastness and sincerity 
of purpose, but after a long and 
trying voyage of eighteen weeks and 
two days they finally entered Chesa- 
peake Bay on Sunday morning, the 
26th of April, and made a landing on 
Cape Henry. The fleet took shelter 
in Hampton Roads, behind a promon- 
tory which they named Point Com- 
fort. Two weeks of exploration and 
examination followed as they sailed 
up the broad river James, reconnoit- 
ring for a favorable location, and on 
May 13th we find them landing on the 
little peninsula now known as James- 
town Island. Their first act was to 

* The dates given are Old Style; according to 
the present calendar they would be ten days later. 




THE TOWER OF THE OLD CHURCH AT JAMESTOWN 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



kneel and hear Chaplain Hunt read the 
prayers and the thanksgiving for a 
safe voyage ; next day all hands were 
at work clearing the place for the 
fort and stockade. Their next thought 
was a church, but their first place of 
worship is described by the chaplain 
as "a pen of poles with a sail for a 
roof, and for a pulpit a bar lashed be- 
tween two convenient trees." It was 
in this rude temple that the Holy 
Communion was celebrated for the 
first time in America, according to 
the Liturgy of our Church, on June 
21st, 1607. Of the second place of 
worship which followed, Captain 
Smith says, "It was a homely thing, 
like a barn, set on cratchets, covered 
with rafters, sods and brush." 

Here were the beginnings of per- 
manency for the Church, and here the 
flickering torch from which her light 
has gone out into all the land. 

777. Two Godly Men 
We have already told something of 
the courage, wise counsel and self- 
sacrifice of Robert Hunt, — the patient 
meekness which disarmed opposition 
and the cheerful faith which en- 
couraged the weak and despondent, 
but it is worth our while to study a 
little more closely the character of 
the clergy who offered themselves for 
service in an unknown land, counting 
it a privilege to suffer and die if they 
might help in establishing a Christian 
civilization. 

It was an incalculable advantage 
and blessing that the first clergy who 
came to Virginia were uniformly 
godly and well-learned men of high 
character and sincere devotion — quite 
different from some of the clerical ad- 
venturers who followed a generation 
later, after things were easier and the 
colonies had come to be looked upon 
as a place to rebuild fallen fortunes 
or live down a bad name. Hunt and 
Buck, Whitaker and Glover, Pool and 
Wickham, all gave proof of their min- 
istry, enduring much hardship and 
manifesting a faithfulness which was 



sometimes ''unto death. "' Of two of 
these only we can speak, — Robert 
Hunt and Alexander Whitaker. 

Little or nothing is known of the 
motives which moved Mr. Hunt to 
offer himself for the adventure in Vir- 
ginia. No one seems to know who 
chose him, but all agree in praising 
him. Smith calls him "an honest, 
courageous, religious divine; during 
whose life our factions were oft quali- 
fied, and our wants and greatest ex- 
tremities so comforted that they 
seemed easier in comparison of what 
we endured after his memorable 
death." Although the materials are 
scanty on which to form an estimate 
of his character, enough is recorded 
to show that he was "a workman who 
needed not to be ashamed." He 
showed his quality at the very begin- 
ning of the voyage during the six 
weeks when baffling winds kept the 
ships within sight of the English coast. 
It is said of him in connection with 
this experience : "All this time Master 
Hunt, our preacher, was so weak and 
sick that few expected his recovery. 
Yet, although he were but twenty 
miles from his habitation, and not- 
withstanding the stormy weather, nor 
the scandalous imputations (of some 
few, little better than Atheists, of the 
greatest rank among us) suggested 
against him, all this could never force 
from him so much as a seeming desire 
to leave the business, but preferred the 
service of God in so good a voyage, 
before any affection to contest with his 
godless foes, whose disastrous designs 
(could they have prevailed) had even 
then overthrown the business, so 
many discontents did then arise, had 
he not, with the water of patience and 
his godly exhortations (but chiefly 
through his true devoted examples) 
quenched those flames of envy and 
dissention." 

Arrived in Jamestown his hands 
and heart were more than full. We 
see him leading the devotions of the 
people under the open sky, preaching 
with a bar of wood for a pulpit, and 




BAS-RELIEF OF THE FIRST COMMUNION, CELEBRATED JUNE 21, 1607 



administering the sacraments under 
the most difficult conditions. Captain 
Smith gives the routine as follows: 
"We had daily common prayer, morn- 
ing and evening; every Sunday two 
sermons ; and every three months the 
Holy Communion, till our minister 
died; but our prayers daily with an 
Homily on Sundaies we continued two 
or three years after till our preachers 
came," — that is, those who came after 
the death of Mr. Hunt. 

Here is a true picture of the begin- 
ning of Church life in America. The 
pioneers, working in the summer heat, 
building a fort, clearing ground, plant- 
ing corn, getting out clapboard and 
specimens of timber to send back to 
England, with sassafras roots and 
other crude products of the land. 
Sunday comes, and they leave their 
tools, but still taking their arms they 
gather under the "olde saile" to 
shadow them from the sun while they 
hear the familiar words of Common 
Prayer and the cheering exhortations 
of their man of God.* 



* Colonial Churches of Virginia, Southern 
Churchman Company. 



Thus the chaplain went about his 
ordered duties, finding responsibilities 
which multiplied with the days. Sick- 
ness and suffering came upon the little 
company. The unacclimated men died 
like sheep. August alone saw twenty- 
one deaths and the little churchyard 
was full of mounds. Food was 
scarce and the river water which they 
drank was deadly. And the cold of 
the winter brought fresh suffering. 
Dissensions broke out among those 
in authority, and more than once 
Chaplain Hunt was instrumental in 
composing their differences. A fierce 
conflagration consumed the church 
and all but a few houses of the little 
town. Mr. Hunt had taken his library 
with him, which under the circum- 
stances was precious indeed. This, 
together with everything he possessed, 
was destroyed. "Good Master Hunt, 
our preacher," says the record, "lost 
all but the clothes on his backe, yet 
did none ever see him repine at his 
losse." Through this dark winter he 
cheered and encouraged his drooping 
companions, and — supported by the 
persevering energy of Captain Smith 



G 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



— exhorted the wavering and despair- 
ing, so that by the spring the first 
critical period in the colony's life had 
passed, the town was rebuilt and the 
church restored. 

Little more is known of Robert 
Hunt. How long he lived in the 
colony we are not told. That he died 
there and is buried under the shadow 
of the old church tower is practically 
certain. Captain John Smith, in the 
sentence above quoted, speaks of ''his 
memorable death," but we have no 
further details as to the time and 
place. Probably toward the close of 
the second year his none too strong 
physique succumbed to the great 
labors and hardships he had endured, 
and we find him succeeded by the 
Rev. Richard Buck, who for eleven 
years "fed the people with the Bread 
of Life and preached to them the 
Gospel of Salvation." It is a brave 
and simple record, that of Robert 
Hunt, chaplain. Short as was his life 
in America, the Church and the nation 
owe high honor to his memory. 

Virginia was fortunate in the serv- 
ices of Robert Hunt; she was no less 
favored in the ministrations of the 
Rev. Alexander Whitaker, who was 
foremost among the little band of 
clergy that came out from England 
in the early years. After its bitter 
early experience the colony expanded 
rapidly, both up and down the river. 
In 1611, at Henrico — now Richmond 
— a church was built and the care of 
the congregation committed to Mr. 
Whitaker, who, in addition to his 
labors in the colony, gained by his 
missionary activity the title of 
"Apostle to the Indians." He it was 
who baptized Pocahontas and united 
her in marriage with Mr. Rolfe. His 
character is thus sketched by a con- 
temporary: "I hereby let all men 
know that a scholar, a graduate, a 
preacher, well borne and friended in 
England ; not in debt nor disgrace, but 
competently provided for, and liked 
and beloved where he lived ; not in 
want but (for a schollar and as these 



days be) rich in possession and more 
in possibilities; of himself, without 
any persuasion (but God's and his own 
heart) did voluntarily leave his warm 
nest; and, to the wonder of his kin- 
dred and amazement of them that 
knew him, undertook this hard, but, 
in my judgment, heroical resolution 
to go to Virginia, and help to beare 
the name of God unto the gentiles." 
He seems never to have regretted his 
decision, for, in after years, writing 
from his Virginia parish, he says, "I 
maruaile much that so few of our 
English ministers come hither. Doe 
they not either willfully hide th^r 
tallents, or keepe themselves at home 
for f eare of losing a few pleasures ? 
But I refer them to the Judge of all 
hearts, and to the King that shall re- 
ward every one according to the gaine 
of his tallent. I, though my promise 
of three yeeres' service be expired, 
will abide in my vocation here until 
I be lawfully called from hence. And 
so, betaking us all unto the mercies 
of God in Christ Jesus, I rest for 
ever." 

It was by such as these that the 
foundations of Virginia were laid, 
that Virginia which came to be the 
mother of Churchmen as well as the 
mother of statesmen. Humanly speak- 
ing, everything depended upon the 
men who began the work, and, in the 
providence of God, the few who were 
found were fit for the task. 

IV. The Widening Fields 
It is of course impossible, and 
would not be desirable, in these 
articles to attempt even to summarize 
the entire history of a diocese. Our 
purpose is only to show how the 
Church, came, and to sketch certain 
features of the beginnings of her 
work. But if we would grasp the im- 
portance of the day of small things 
we must view it in relation to the re- 
sults which flowed from it; therefore 
it is well to take a glance at certain 
historical features of Virginia, the 
cradle of the American Church. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



Here Church and State marched 
side by side, or rather, the Church 
was the State. It was in the second 
crude little church at Jamestown, in 
1619, that there met the first repre- 
sentative assembly in America to 
establish self-government upon this 
continent; and the laws they passed 
had quite as much in them about min- 
isters and church attendance, Sundays 
and sacraments, as. about judges and 
courts, debtors and drunkenness. 
They even provided that the members 
of the legislature should attend divine 
service upon the "thyrde beatings of 
the drum, under a fine of two shillings 
and sixpence." With such a concep- 
tion of the Church as embracing all 
people and permeating the community 
life, it was to be expected that as 
settlements grew the Church too 
would grow; and, though (contrary 
to the practice of Puritan Massachu- 
setts) Quakers and non-conformists 
might reside unmolested within the 
bounds of the colony, it was true that 
Virginia in those days was a colony 
of Churchmen. 

It was in 1639 that the third James- 
town church was built, a structure of 
brick whose old tower survived the 
devastations of two great wars and is 
shown in an accompanying picture. 
This third church saw the Virginia 
Colony firmly established, but with its 
growth the influence of Jamestown 
waned and passed. Williamsburg be- 
came the capital, and in 1715 what is 
now called Old Bruton Church be- 
came its successor as the court church 
of the Colony. 

But before the glory of Jamestown 
altogether departed, a significant 
event took place in the founding at 
Williamsburg of William and Mary 
College in 1693. In this early move- 
ment toward higher education there 
was a missionary purpose, special 
provision being made for the educa- 
tion of Indian boys. 

Later the Church experienced dark 
days in Virginia, partly because of 



prosperity. Plantation life grew 
abundant and easy, and clergy of less 
character and devotion were attracted 
to Virginia. Missionary zeal largely 
died out. The colony grew peaceful 
and prosperous and safe — and at the 
same time less concerned about the 
ideals of religion, — though even then 
there were saints not a few. But the 
Revolutionary War was a sad experi- 
ence for the Church in Virginia. Not- 
withstanding the fact that the greatest 
leaders in that movement were her 
own sons and were faithful Church- 
men, the Church suffered severely be- 
cause of its supposed union with the 
English state. It was difficult to con- 
vince the plain people anywhere in the 
American colonies that there was not 
an unholy alliance between King 
George and the Episcopal Church. 
"At the outbreak of the war the 
clergy in Virginia numbered ninety; 
at its close there were twenty-eight. 
Legal proceedings and enactments fol- 
lowing the Revolution stripped the 
Church of most of her power; the 
grants of the English crown were of 
course taken from her, and she be- 
came a mark for plunder. Glebes 
and church buildings were sold for a 




BISHOP MOORE, OF VIRGINIA 



How Our Church Came to Virginia 



song and the proceeds were directed 
to be used "for any public purposes 
not religious." Under this act a thor- 
ough-going disestablishment was car- 
ried out which caused much hard- 
ship. Discouraged and without sup- 
port, many of the clergy abandoned 
their spiritual calling." Despite the 
fact that Virginia had for twenty-two 
years had a bishop in the person of 
James Madison, the difficulties against 
which he struggled were so great that 
at the convention of 1812, following 
his death, only thirteen clergy were 
gathered. But this period was the 
low-water mark of the Church in Vir- 
ginia. In 1814 the Rev. Richard 
Channing Moore was consecrated 
bishop and with him began a recon- 
struction which was little short of 
wonderful. He found in his diocese 
only five active clergy ; when he died, 
after an episcopate of twenty-seven 



years, he left 95 clergy, serving 170 
congregations.* 

The Virginia of Revolutionary days 
is now divided into three dioceses 
under six bishops and containing 
nearly 40,000 communicants. To this 
result no agency has contributed more 
effectively than the Virginia Theo- 
logical Seminary, founded in 1821, 
which has given the Church more than 
1,000 clergy, 38 of whom reached the 
dignity of the episcopate, while more 
than 70 went to the foreign mission 
field. Thus, far beyond her borders, 
throughout our own broad land and 
in every mission field beyond the sea, 
the sons of Virginia have gone, carry- 
ing the Church's message and planting 
the ancient faith. Looking back 300 
years to the day of Robert Hunt, how 
truly we may say, "The little one has 
become a thousand!" 

* Conquest of the Continent, page 47. 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO 

VIRGINIA" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

AMPLE material for this can be 
found in any good American his- 
tory read in connection with some 
history of our own Church. Most 
teachers will be already familiar with 
the secular aspects of the founding of 
the Jamestown Colony, but will need to 
refresh their minds with regard to its 
religious and Church significance. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

There should be no difficulty about 
finding the point of contact with any 
group of live American children. Ask 
how they would feel if they suddenly 
heard that a beautiful, new land had 
been discovered, and what they would 
probably do? Show them the difference 
between exploration and colonization, 
and compare the little ships to which 
our forefathers trusted their lives and 
fortunes with the great ocean liners of 
to-day. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. Seeds That Failed. 

1. When was our prayer-book used in 
America for the first time? 

2. Tell something about the colony of 
Roanoke. 

3. Who was the first English baby 



born in America, and what became of 
her? 

4. What do you know of the Gorges 
Colony on the Kennebec? 

II. The Seed Which Took Root. 

1. What historical happenings at the 
beginning of the seventeenth century 
turned Englishmen toward colonization? 

2. Who was the leader in this move- 
ment? 

3. Tell of the company which set forth 
to Jamestown? 

4. The circumstances of their landing. 

III. Two Godly Men. 

1. Describe Robert Hunt. 

2. What facts make you think that he 
was a brave and good man? 

3. Give some account of his work. 

4. Who was Alexander Whitaker, and 
what did he do? 

IV. The Widening Field. 

1. Tell some things that happened in 
the little church at Jamestown. 

2. Why did it fall into decay? 

3. How did the Revolution affect the 
Church in Virginia 

4. Who was Bishop Moore, and what 
did he do? 

5. Tell something about the present 
state of the Church in Virginia. 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



n 



2|oto <^ur Cfjurci) Came to ®uv Country 



II. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO MASSACHUSETTS 

By Lydia Averell Hough 



L Pilgrim and Puritan 

THE early days of Massachusetts 
were so different from those in 
Virginia that people are very apt 
to think the Anglican Church had 
nothing to do with the founding of 
the northern colony. It is true that 
the Congregational system soon be- 
came almost universal in Massachu- 
setts, and that only those who sub- 
scribed to it could take any public part 
in religious or political affairs, but 
there were settlements in Massachu- 
setts made by Church people, and 
there were many individuals who did 
not wish to separate from the Church, 
and many who even wished to con- 
tinue to use the Prayer Book. 

We must remember that at this 
time the Puritans in England were 
not outside the Church. They were 
a party in the Church, intent on re- 
forming it according to their own 
ideas. Only a small body of men 
called "Brownists" or "Separatists," 
to which the Pilgrims belonged, had 
definitely withdrawn. Non-conform- 
ity meant only that one could not sub- 
scribe to every rule enforced by king 
and bishops. Non-conforming rectors 
might have to give up their parishes, 
but they might remain in the Church. 
The Puritans were Non-conformists, 
the Pilgrims were Separatists. 

This was a temporary condition. 
Later the lines became more sharply 
drawn, and the Puritans were largely 
forced out of the Church. Neverthe- 
less, both Puritans and Pilgrims had 
been trained in the Church. Most of 
their eminent men were educated at 
the Church universities of Oxford 



and Cambridge, and many of them 
were priests. So much of the Puritan 
movement for the colonization of 
Massachusetts began under Church 
auspices that it must have been very 
hard for any one joining it to foresee 
how it would turn out. This accounts 
for our finding among the early colon- 
ists so many who did not sympathize 
with the extreme measures taken 
after they landed. 

All three of the companies under 
which the settlers obtained their 
grants were formed 
t h o r i t y . The 
London and 
Plymouth com- 
panies had royal- 
ists and noblemen 
as directors. The 
man who initi- 
ated the third, 
Rev. John White, 




Church au 

I 







CHRIST CHURCH, BOSTON 

Better knozvn as the "Old North," where tin 
Paul Revere lantern zvas hung 



u 







How Our Church Came to Our Country 



though a Puritan, was still rec- 
tor of Trinity Church, Dorchester. 
The Rev. Francis Higginson, who 
went out in the first ship-load 
under this charter, made the often- 
quoted exclamation : "We will not 
say, as the Separatists were wont 
to say, at their leaving England, 
'Farewell, Babylon! Farewell, Rome!' 
But we will say, 'Farewell, dear Eng- 
land! Farewell, the Church of God 
in England, and all the Christian 
friends there !' We do not go to New 
England as Separatists from the 
Church of England." He was prob- 
ably quite sincere in this, though his 
later actions do not seem consistent 
with such words. There was even a 
bishop who seriously considered join- 
ing the Puritan colonists — the bishop 
of Bath and Wells. He was pre- 
vented by age, but it is interesting to 
wonder how Congregationalism and a 
bishop would have got on together. 
It is not strange that under such aus- 
pices some staunch Prayer Book 
Churchmen should have come out 
among the colonists. 

Before we learn anything about the 
distinctively Church settlements, or 
the individuals who represented the 
Church in Massachusetts in this first 
period, we must stop and think about 
one characteristic of the times which 
colors the whole history of them, and 
makes it hard sometimes to judge of 
the real character of persons and 
events. This characteristic is intoler- 
ance! It was almost universal, and 
it not only made men ready to perse- 
cute all who differed from them, but 
unable to see any good in their ac- 
tions. If a man's opinion did not 
agree with theirs, he was not only a 
heretic and an atheist, but an evil-liver 
and a menace to the commonwealth! 
We shall see one instance of this 
tendency in the descriptions of 
Merrymount — and there were many 
others. Holland was the only country 
which had learned (under the Inquisi- 
tion) the folly and sin of persecution; 



and even among the refugees there it 
is doubtful if there were many who 
would not have liked to coerce others 
if they could. Contemporaries wrote 
of the hospitable little country: "It 
is a common harbor of all heresies," 
"A cage of unclean birds," "The great 
mingle-mangle of religion." 

One of the Puritans summed it all 
up in the rhyme: 
"Let men of God in courts and 

churches watch 
O'er such as do a Toleration hatch, 
Lest that ill egg bring forth a cocka- 
trice 
To poison all with heresy and vice." 

Since persecution was so general 
it became almost a measure of 
self-preservation. At any rate the 
Puritans considered it such. But we 
shall not understand it unless we re- 
member the extreme value they at- 
tached to unanimity of opinion. That, 
and not religious freedom, was their 
real object in coming to Massachu- 
setts. Partly because religious free- 
dom was not what they wanted did 
the Pilgrims leave Leyden, and Fiske 
says that the reason freedom of belief 
was not stipulated in the Massachu- 
setts Bay charter was because neither 
party to the agreement wanted it. 

History has at last taught men that 
absolute unanimity is not wholesome, 
and Providence and human nature 
saw to it that the Puritans did not 
get it. To this end the Church settle- 
ments and adherents contributed! 

77. The Unwelcome Churchman 
We have learned about the colony 
on the Kennebec, sent by Sir Ferdi- 
nando Gorges. His son Robert 
founded one at Wessagusset, and this 
had some intercourse with Plymouth. 
Once a party from the former 
stayed over Sunday in the latter town. 
They were pleasantly received, but 
their chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Morrell, 
was completely ignored in the meet- 
ing-house services. This was the more 
ignominious because he bore a com- 



n 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



mission of superintendence over the 
churches of New England! 

The most picturesque settlement of 
Churchmen in New England is that 
at Merrymount, where Thomas Mor- 
ton, "of Clifford's Inn, Gent.," tried 
to live the life of an old-fashioned 
English squire, keeping Christmas 
with beef and ale, and May Day with 
dancing around the maypole — in 
which the savages joined. Such lev- 
ity was visited with fine and imprison- 
ment. Banishment followed, and 
when Morton unwisely returned to 
look after his property, he was so 
harshly treated that he died, broken 
and dispirited. It was plain that a 
Churchman who adhered to his train- 
ing and traditions was not wanted in 
the colony! 

Another settlement where attach- 
ment to the old Church lingered was 
Naumkeag, or Salem. There had been 
a fishing station on Cape Ann, whose 
inhabitants, as the Plymouth settlers 
claimed their land, removed to Naum- 
keag. Their leader - was Roger 
Conant. He had lived at Plymouth, 
but did not sympathize with the Sep- 
aratist measures of the elders there. 
At Salem was formed the first 
Episcopal congregation in New Eng- 
land. This was just a year after 
Governor Endicott, with the active as- 
sistance of two ministers — one of 
them being the Rev. Mr. Higginson, 
who had so eagerly protested his love 
for England and the Church — had or- 
ganized a Congregational society of 
the most independent type. 

The story of the founding of this 
Salem parish brings into view two 
representative Churchmen — John and 
Samuel Brown. They had joined the 
enterprise as Churchmen, and in- 
tended to remain such, notwithstand- 
ing the inconsistency of Mr. Higgin- 
son. They had daily prayers in their 
houses, and even gathered a congrega- 
tion separate from that of the meet- 
ing-house, to which they read the 
services of the Prayer Book. The 



Browns were members of the Coun- 
cil and too prominent to be ignored. 
Summoned before the governor, they 
did not mince matters, but denounced 
the ministers as "Separatists and 
Anabaptists," and refused to give up 
that "sinful imposition in the worship 
of God," as their opponents called 
the Prayer Book. They were found 
guilty of mutiny and faction and or- 
dered to leave the colony. There is 
a tablet in St. Peter's Church, Salem, 
to the memory of their "intrepidity in 
the cause of religious freedom." 

Among other Churchmen whom we 
might mention (like Oldham and the 
Rev. Mr. Lyford at Plymouth), one 
name stands out clearly and pleasantly 
from the history of the times. The 
Rev. William Blackstone had settled 
in Shawmut, and the present Boston 
Common is a part of the land granted 
to him by the Gorges family. When 
the first settlers came to Charlestown 




DR. TIMOTHY CUTLER 

President of Yale College and afterward rector of 

Christ Church, Boston 



13 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



he had been there long enough to have 
a homestead and thriving orchard. 
The newcomers were sheltered under 
his roof while they were building their 
own houses, and regaled with his 
apples, so redolent of home. But 
when Boston had grown up about him 
to a considerable town, Mr. Black- 
stone was viewed askance by his new 
neighbors, hospitable and inoffensive 
though he was. They did not like 
his being a priest of the Church, even 
though he did not exercise his min- 
istry ; nor did they feel easy about his 
holding so much land under a title not 
derived from their charter. Finally 
he was bought out and constrained to 
leave the colony and betake himself to 
Rhode Island. 

"I left England," he says, "because 
I misliked my lords, the bishops; I 
leave here because I like still less my 
lords, the brethren." His experiences 
in Boston seem to have quickened his 
zeal, for in Providence he was active 
in the ministry for many years. 
There he planted another orchard, 
and used to reward the good children 
of his flock with his "yellow sweet- 
ings"' — a rare treat. What a contrast 
to the less fortunate children under 
the Puritan "tithing-man" ! His biog- 
rapher draws a quaint picture of the 
unconventional old gentlemen, when 
he grew too infirm to walk the six 
miles to his church, riding on a bull 
which he had broken to the saddle. 

777. Beginning to Build 
So years wore on, and in England 
the Commonwealth was succeeded by 
the restoration of the Stuarts. 
Charles II began to look into the com- 
plaints of Churchmen in the colonies, 
and informed the General Court of 
Massachusetts that there must be no 
discrimination "against them that de- 
sire to use the Book of Common 
Prayer." Charles II also took occa- 
sion to allude to what he considered 
to have been the original object for 
which the charter was granted, 



namely, "that in their general godly 
walk and conversation they should 
impress the inhabitants with the vir- 
tue of the Christian religion." In 
other words, Charles regarded the 
colony as a missionary enterprise. 

The Court found it difficult to ac- 
cede to his commands. Their resist- 
ance led to the revocation of their 
charter in 1684, and the colony came 
under the control of royal governors. 
Then the tables were turned, and 
though they were supposed to respect 
the liberties of the Puritans, the gov- 
ernors began to enforce the wishes of 
the Church party in a high-handed 
way, met by equally high-spirited re- 
sistance. They demanded one of the 
meeting-houses to worship in, and on 
Good Friday, 1687 (a singularly 
inappropriate day for such an act), 
they took possession of the Old 
South Church. On Easter Day 
the services lasted from eleven to 
two, while the embittered owners 
of the place waited part of the time 
outside. "A sad sight," says the Puri- 
tan, Judge Sewall; and surely not a 
joyful one to any discerning lover of 
the Church. But such impolitic be- 
havior did not last long, and the 
Church grew in general esteem. From 
being exposed to "great affronts," 
having their ministers called "Baal's 
priests," and their prayers "leeks, gar- 
lic and trash," they had come, before 
the Revolution, to be "the second in 
esteem among all the sects." 

Some of the early parishes which 
were founded during this time were 
Queen Anne's Chapel, Newburyport, 
in 1712, one in Marblehead, 1707, and 
one in Braintree, 1702. But the two 
which had the greatest influence, and 
were in a sense mother churches, were 
King's Chapel and Christ Church, 
Boston. 

King's Chapel, built in 1690, resulted 
from the controversies just described. 
The first building was a plain wooden 
structure, on part of the ground now 
occupied by the church. The site was 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



probably taken from the town bury- 
ing-ground, as the bitterness of feel- 
ing toward the Church led to a refusal 
to sell them land for the building. In 
1710 there were eight hundred mem- 
bers of the congregation, and about 
1713 they began to request that a 
bishop should be sent to them. King 
William and Queen Mary befriended 
the parish, and sent gifts of plate and 
a library. They also gave a hundred 
pounds yearly toward the salary of 
an assistant minister. After a while 
the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel came to the assistance of the 
local Churchmen, and when it was 
necessary to rebuild the church for 
the third time, the Society aided them 
to put up the present stone edifice. 
The later history of King's Chapel is 
rather a sad one from the 
Churchman's point of view, 
for this most important 
stronghold of the Church in 
the Massachusetts colony 
was, by a process too long to 
be described here, alienated 
from her communion, and is 
today the property of the 
Unitarians. 

In 1722 the growth of the 
congregation caused the 
founding of Christ Church, 
of which the cornerstone 
was laid in the next year by 
Rev. Samuel Myles of 
King's Chapel. In four 
years this parish also re- 
ported eight hundred at- 
tending the services. 

Christ Church played a 
very important part in the 
church life of Massachusetts 
until the Revolution and 
afterwards. Its records give 
a pretty clear outline of the 
history of those days. It 
was particularly fortunate 
in its first rector, Dr. Tim- 
othy Cutler, who was one 
of the group of Yale pro- 
fessors whose conversion to 



the Church made such a sensation in 
1722. He went to England for or- 
dination at the expense of the parish, 
and returned with a commission from 
the "Venerable Society" (The S. P. 
G.) as rector. He sent regular re- 
ports to the Society, which throw 
much light on details of life in Boston 
at that time. "Negro and Indian Slaves 
belonging to my Parish," he writes, 
"are about thirty-one, their Education 
and Instruction is according to the 
Houses they belong to. I have bap- 
tized but two. But I know of the 
Masters of some others, who are dis- 
posed to this important good of their 
Slaves." He had a mission at Ded- 
ham, and .some other places, and the 
people were "so zealous that several 
of them ride between ten and sixteen 




Photo by Underwood and Underwood 

KING'S CHAPEL, BOSTON 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



miles to the Monthly Communion." 
He reports the baptism of "1 Adult 
Indian Female, who had left the Bar- 
barity of her Kindred." 

Dr. Cutler died in 1765, in time 
to escape the trials of the Revo- 
lutionary War. He was succeeded by 
the Rev. Mather Byles, like himself 
a Connecticut Congregationalist, who 
was called to Christ Church and sent 
to London for ordination. 

Trinity Church, founded in 1734, 
was the third of our pre-revolutionary 
churches in Boston. Dr. Parker, its 
rector, at the outbreak of the Revo- 
lution stood his ground, telling his 
vestry that they must either keep the 
church open and omit the prayers for 
the King, or go on praying for the 
King and close the church. The 
vestry to a single man stood by their 
rector, the church was kept open 
throughout the war, and around Dr. 
Parker Massachusetts Churchmanship 
afterwards rallied. 




THE RIGHT REV. EDWARD BASS. D.D. 
First Bishop of Massachusetts 



IV. The Revolution — and Afier 

The Revolution came like the rains 
and the flood in the parable, to test the 
durability of the building which the 
Church had done. Because it was so 
intimately connected with the govern- 
ment of England, it was naturally ac- 
cused of being royalist and unpatriotic 
by the colonists. Some of the clergy 
and laity did feel bound, by their ordi- 
nation vows or their Church ad- 
herence, to uphold the royalist side. 
They were as sincere and suffered as 
much as the staunchest patriot. But 
there was nothing in the doctrines of 
the Church, as such, to necessitate 
allegiance to George III. Many of 
the leaders on the side of the colonies 
were Churchmen, as we know, and 
after the new government was estab- 
lished, it was loyally supported by the 
Episcopal Church. When the alterna- 
tive was presented of praying for the 
King or changing the words of the 
Prayer Book, American Churchmen, 
with searching of heart, did the latter. 
The coveted gift of the episcopate was 
delayed because they would not take 
the oath of allegiance. 

In New England, particularly, 
where the Church had grown under 
such difficulties, men had come into 
her communion from conviction, after 
investigation of her claims, and had 
not merely accepted her as part of the 
established order of things. Their 
conversion had been a mental and 
spiritual matter, less connected with 
outward things like politics, and it 
was the easier for them to reorganize 
the Church as separate from the state. 

Bishop Bass was the first Bishop of 
Massachusetts. His consecration took 
place on May 7, 1797, and his conse- 
crators were Bishops White, Pro- 
voost and Claggett. This was the first 
consecration to the episcopate to take 
place in New England and the second 
in America. He was succeeded by 
Bishop Parker, under whom the 
Church in Massachusetts was wisely 
guided and adjusted to the new needs. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



Within the limits of this article we 
cannot hope to follow the Church 
farther in her ministry to the people 
of Massachusetts, but we must point 
out the tremendous changes that 
have taken place, and how wonder- 
fully she has been blessed. From be- 
ing the hotbed of oppression and 
persecution against Churchmen, Mas- 
sachusetts has become the place 
where, perhaps more than in any 
other, the Church is held in honor by 
all classes and creeds. Her progress 
during recent years has been propor- 
tionately greater than that of any 
other Christian body, with the excep- 
tion of the Roman Catholics, who 
have increased by immigration. 



Contrast the picture of the early 
Churchmen, standing alone for their 
faith, slandered and reviled and 
driven out, with the picture on a pre- 
vious page, where the General Con- 
vention of 1904, with its long line of 
bishops, marches through Copley 
Square into the entrance of Trinity 
Church, Boston, made sacred by the 
life and ministry of Phillips Brooks. 

Here in Massachusetts, where the 
Church had such a struggle to gain 
even a foothold, and where the pri- 
vate exercise of her rites was for- 
bidden, we have today two dioceses 
reporting 297 clergy and 66,217 com- 
municants — and the work goes on ! 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO 
MASSACHUSETTS" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

GENERAL English and American his- 
tory will give the background of the 
struggle between Puritanism and the 
Church which seemed to find a focus in 
Massachusetts. Any good Church history 
will be of assistance. See also "Some 
Memory Days of the Church in America," 
"The Indebtedness of Massachusetts to Its 
Six Bishops," Volume VII of "The Amer- 
ican Church History Series," and Volume I 
of "The History of the Eastern Diocese." 

See also the story of "The Maypole of 
Merrymount" in Hawthorne's "Twice-told 
Tales"; but remember in reading it that he 
is using his imagination to set forth a point 
of. view of the stern Puritan who did not 
wish to be happy himself nor intended that 
any one else should be. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

All your children know a good deal about 
the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers on 
Plymouth Rock and the settlement of Salem 
and Boston. Try to bring out whatever 
else they may know about the early char- 
acteristics of the Massachusetts colony. 
Some of your class may have been in Bos- 
ton. Ask what historic places they have 
seen. Get them to tell what happened at 
the "Old North Church." 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. Pilgrim and Puritan. 

1. What was the difference between the 
Pilgrim and the Puritan? 



2. How far were English Churchmen 
represented among the founders of the 
Massachusetts colony? 

3. With what feelings did the Rev. 
Francis Higginson leave England? 

4. Did the colonists really want religious 
freedom for every one? 

II. The Unwelcome Churchman. 

1. What do you know about Thomas 
Morton of Merrymount? 

2. Tell something about John and Samuel 
Brown of Salem. 

3. What happened to the Rev. William 
Blackstone? 

III. Beginning to Build. 

1. How did the restoration of the Stuarts 
affect the Church in Massachusetts? 

2. Tell how Churchmen borrowed a meet- 
ing-house. 

3. What early parishes were established? 

4. Who was Timothy Cutler and what 
did he do?* 

IV. The Revolution— and After. 

1. What changes did the Revolution bring 
to the Church in Massachusetts. 

2. What do you know about the first 
bishop of Massachusetts? 

3. Show the contrast between the 
Church's past and present. 

• Christ Church, Boston, of which Dr. Cutler 
was rector for so many years, called the "Old 
North Church," where Paul Revere's friend hung 
the signal lantern on the night before the battle 

of Lexington, is the oldest house of worship in 
Boston. 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



• 



3|oto 0uv Cfjurcf) Came to ®uv Country 



III. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO CONNECTICUT 
By the Rev. Dr. Samuel Hart 




Weather-cock of Christ 
Church, Stratford 



I. The Beginnings 

THE first set- 
tlements i n 
the colony of 
' Connecticut 
were made in 
and soon after 
the year 1635. 
There were 
two kinds of 
settlers : some 
would have 
been called 
Puritans and 
some would 
have been called Separatists. They 
had all been brought up in Eng- 
land, in the old Church, and many 
of them had become dissatisfied 
with the way things were going in 
England; but while some wanted to 
change and purify the Church, others 
thought that they could not stay in 
the Church of England, but must 
separate themselves from it. The peo- 
ple who came to Connecticut, whether 
Puritans or Separatists, soon ceased 
to call themselves members of the 
Church of England. 
Among their minis- 
ters were fourteen 
or fifteen men who 
had been ordained 
in England ; but 
after they came 
here they had no 
more ordinations by 
bishops. Some of 
them even believed 
that they could or- 
dain their own min- 
isters simply by the 
laying-on of hands 




CHRIST CHURCH, STRATFORD 



by chosen members of the congrega- 
tion. There was a very curious ordina- 
tion in Milford, where one of the men 
who was to lay on hands was a black- 
smith, and he thought, because he 
used leather mittens in his work in 
the blacksmith shop, that the proper 
thing to do was to put on his mittens 
for the service; it was called the 
"leather-mitten ordination." One re- 
sult of this was that sober-minded 
men and women began to think that 
perhaps after all the Church of Eng- 
land was in the right ; that it might be 
best to follow the example which had 
been prevailing in the Church for 
many hundreds of years, that no one 
should be considered to have the right 
to preach the word of God 
or minister the sacraments 
unless he had been or- 
dained by a bishop. 

There were other things 
that set people to thinking, 
and called up recollections 
of what they had learned in 
old England. Three 
or four copies, per- 
haps more, of the 
Book of Common 
Prayer (which 
Bishop Williams 
once said was the 
first and best mis- 
s i o n a r y of the 
Church) had been 
brought to Connecti- 
cut. One belonged 
to Samuel Smithson 
of Guilford. It fell 
into the hands of a 
young man who was 
then preparing for 



uld 

I 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



college, or perhaps had entered col- 
lege, Samuel Johnson. He read it, 
studied it, learned from it some things 
which he had not known before, and 
thought seriously of what he had 
learned. He came to the conclusion 
that the teachings of the Prayer Book 
were the teachings of the Word of 
God; and when he became a Congre- 
gational minister he used the prayers 
which he had learned, and the people 
thought that he was peculiarly "gifted 
in prayer," and wondered how he 
could express himself so well. He be- 
came, under God's providence, the 
founder of the Church here in Con- 
necticut. There was another Prayer 
Book in Plymouth; and this led di- 
rectly to the establishment of two or 
three parishes in Connecticut, one or 
two in Western New York, and one 
or two in Ohio. 

The English Society for the 
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
Parts was founded in 1701. In the 
very next year a few Churchmen at 
Stratford asked the Society to send 
them a clergyman of the Church of 
England. Almost at the same time, the 
first two missionaries, Mr. Keith and 
Mr. Talbot, came to America, and 
they spent a Sunday in New London. 
The minister of the Congregational 
society there, who was afterwards 
Governor of the Colony, Mr. Salton- 
stall, received them very courteously ; 
and one of them preached from his 
pulpit in the morning and the other 
in the afternoon. I do not suppose 
that they read the service out of the 
Prayer Book; but this was certainly 
the first time that clergymen of the 
Church of England officiated, as such, 
in Connecticut. Four years after- 
wards came the time when the mis- 
sionary at Rye, Mr. Murison, un- 
der the protection and patronage of 
Col. Heathcoate, preached and bap- 
tized in the towns from Greenwich 
to Stratford. The result was the 
establishment of the first parish of the 
colony in Stratford in 1722, and Mr. 



Pigot was settled there as its first 
clergyman. 

II. The Colonial Church 
The year 1722 is notable in the his- 
tory of the Church in Connecticut, not 
alone because it was the year in which 
the first parish was founded, but still 
more because a much more remark- 
able thing happened. Before that time 
seven young men, Congregational 
ministers of good learning, men of 
influence and of reputation, were in 
the habit of meeting in New Haven to 
read the books in the college library 
and to talk over what they read. As 
they read and studied, and as Mr. 
Johnson, who was one of them, re- 
membered what he had learned from 
the Prayer Book, they came to con- 
sider seriously whether it was right 
for them to minister to their congre- 
gations any longer, unless they were 
first ordained by a bishop; and they 
united in sending a letter to the 
"fathers and brethren," who were as- 
sembled at the College commencement 
in the year 1722. It led to much ex- 
citement and discussion; and the re- 
sult was that of these seven young 
men four made up their minds that 
they must cross the ocean and ask the 
the Archbishop of Canterbury to or- 
dain them. I do not suppose that a 
thing like that ever happened before 
or since. Here were some of the 
picked men of the community, hon- 
ored for their learning and their 
character, going across the ocean, 
three thousand miles in a sailing ves- 
sel, because they were satisfied that 
they could not any longer minister to 
their people without receiving ordina- 
tion from a bishop. Three went in 
the first year: Dr. Cutler, Mr. Brown 
and Mr. Johnson ; and Mr. Wetmore 
followed a year later. Yale College at 
this time had a faculty of two, the 
rector and the tutor (we should say 
the president and the professor) ; 
these were Dr. Cutler and Mr. Brown. 
Dr. Cutler came back to be rector of 
Christ Church in Boston, and Mr. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 







THE REV. DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON 

Johnson to be, as I said, the real 
founder of the Church in Connecticut. 
Mr. Wetmore ministered in New 
York; but Mr. Brown died of the 
smallpox in England. 

Then for about fifty years, other 
young men followed the example of 
these four. Forty-four candidates 
crossed the ocean before the Revolu- 
tion; and of these, seven lost their 
lives in the venture. It was not an 
easy thing in those days to cross the 
ocean and to return; and, besides, 
England was continually at war with 
France, and the smallpox was a ter- 
rible scourge. For Hebron five men 
were sent out, one after another. One 
pined away in a French prison, one 
died of the smallpox, one was lost at 
sea, and one died in the West Indies 
on the way back ; only the fifth was 
able to come back to minister to that 
parish. 

The War of the Revolution broke 
out, as you remember, in 1775; and 
the independence of the colonies put 
an end to the work of the Society for 
the Propagation of the Gospel in this 
country. But before this time there 
were twenty-five organized parishes 
of the Church in Connecticut served 



by sixteen clergymen; and a consid- 
erable part of the population had 
from choice become adherents of the 
Church of England, holding to it 
through all the political troubles. 
But during the Revolutionary War 
the progress of the Church was 
greatly hindered. 

777. Bishop Seabury 
The preliminary treaty of indepen- 
dence was signed November 30, 1782, 
though the British did not evacuate 
New York until nearly a year later. 
But in March of 1783, the Church 
clergymen of Connecticut, fifteen still 
remaining in service, and ten of them 
able to attend the meeting, met at 
Woodbury. They were determined to 
act at" the earliest possible moment, 
with a view to declaring their position 
and completing their organization; 
for though they and their congrega- 
tions had been priests and people of 
the Church of England, they had not 
been able as colonists to secure a resi- 
dent bishop or even a visit from one 
of the bishops of the mother country. 
They instructed their secretary, Abra- 
ham Jarvis, afterwards the second 
Bishop of Connecticut, to write to 
their brethren in Philadelphia as to 
the principles which they felt obliged 
to maintain; and they also proceeded 




House in which Bishop Seabury was elected 



20 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



to elect a suitable man whom they 
might send abroad to seek consecra- 
tion as bishop for this independent 
state. Their first choice was the Rev. 
Jeremiah Learning, but his infirmities, 
it was recognized, would not allow 
him to undertake the work-; and then 
they asked Dr. Samuel Seabury to 
take up its burden. 

Samuel Seabury, Jr., was the son 
of a Church of England clergyman of 
Connecticut, and a graduate of Yale 
College in 1748. Dr. Johnson, who 
had seen much of him during his col- 
lege course, described him as "a solid, 
sensible, virtuous youth." For four 
years after graduation he studied the- 
ology and acted as a catechist at 
Huntington, Long Island; and in 
1752, being yet too young for ordina- 
tion to priests' orders in England, he 
went to Edinburgh for a year's study 
of medicine at the University. The 
knowledge of that science which he 
acquired served him in good stead in 
later years, enabling him to be of 
great help to the poor ; but his sojourn 
in the capital city of Scotland also led 
to his acquaintance with the Episcopal 
Church of that land, which was under 
the ban of the civil government and 
disestablished. In the next year he 
went to England, presented his testi- 
monials and passed the necessary ex- 
aminations, and was ordained in the 
chapel of the Bishop of London. He 
returned home with an appointment 
as missionary at New Brunswick, 
N. J., whence he was transferred to 
Jamaica, L. I. ; in 1766 he was chosen 
rector at Westchester, N. Y. 

At the breaking out of the Revolu- 
tion he took up the cause of the 
mother country, and suffered some in- 
dignities ; and presently he withdrew 
within the British lines and served as 
chaplain to the army in New York 
City until the close of the war. From 
that city he sailed for England in Ad- 
miral Digby's flagship, after his elec- 
tion to be Bishop of Connecticut, to 
seek consecration to that office. He 



found friends in England, but it was 
impossible to attain there the fulfil- 
ment of his purpose. The English 
bishops did not dare to act without the 
authority of Parliament, and it was 
vain to plead with them that Parlia- 
ment had nothing to do with a service 
which they might render to fellow 
Churchmen in an independent 
country. 

He waited long, and made trial of 
many plans; friends did what they 
could to help him; but at last, feeling 
(as he said) that he had been "amused 
if not deceived," he decided to wait no 
longer. He knew of an independent 
Episcopal Church in Scotland, with 
which he had worshipped thirty years 
before; and the clergy of Connecticut 
also knew of it, and had charged him, 
if the English bishops would not 
grant his request, to present it to 
those in Scotland. To Scotland, 
therefore, he turned, and there he was 
cordially received; and in an upper 
room in the residence of Bishop Skin- 
ner of Aberdeen he was consecrated 
a bishop with a "free, valid, and 
purely ecclesiastical episcopacy" on 
the 14th day of November, 1784. 

Returning by way of Halifax and 
Newport, Bishop Seabury arrived at 
New London late in June, 1785. On 
the second day of August he met his 
clergy at Middletown, and on the fol- 
lowing day he held his first ordination 
there, admitting four men to the 
diaconate. He then entered upon 
eleven years of diligent labor, joining 
to the duties of the episcopate those of 
the rectorship of St. James's Church, 
New London. His visitations of the 
parishes in all parts of the State were 
constant and extended ; and he gave 
the first example to the whole Angli- 
can communion of the modern work- 
ing bishop. 

Bishop Seabury's influence was also 
great in the organizing and furnishing 
of the national Church. After much 
delay, the Churchmen of New Eng- 
land united with those in the Middle 



?A 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




HOUSE OF BISHOP SKINNER, ABERDEEN 
Where Bishop Seabury was consecrated in 1784 

and Southern States, at a General 
Convention which met in October, 
1789, in one organization which con- 
tinues to this day. Bishop Seabury 
and Bishop White, of Pennsylvania, 
men of different types and habits of 
thought, both strong in convictions 
but conciliatory and far-sighted, sat 
together as the House of Bishops at 
its first session ; and both of them con- 
sented to every act of legislation and 
every change in the Book of Common 
Prayer which was adopted at that 
time to meet the needs of the Church 
in the new nation. An important re- 
turn to primitive worship was made 
in the insertion of the Oblation and 
the Invocation in the Communion 
office, as they were used by the Scot- 
tish bishops and their people, who had 
drawn them from ancient sources. In 
1792 Bishop Seabury united with the 
three bishops consecrated in Eng- 
land for Pennsylvania, New York, and 
Virginia in consecrating Dr. Thomas 
John Claggett to be Bishop of Mary- 
land; and through him the succession 



brought from Scotland to Connecticut 
has passed to every later bishop of 
the American Episcopal Church. 

The end of his busy life came, as 
he had hoped and prayed, suddenly. 
On the 25th of February, 1796, as he 
sat in the house of one of his wardens, 
he was stricken with apoplexy and 
passed from his earthly labors. 
Standing at a critical point in our 
church's history, he had been able to 
moderate between the old and the 
new, and thus he had exercised an in- 
fluence in both Church and State, the 
power and memory of which cannot 
soon pass away. 

IV. What lias Followed 
Bishop Seabury was succeeded by 
Bishop Abraham Jarvis (1797-1813) ; 
and, after an interval of six years, he 
was succeeded by Bishop Thomas 
Church Brownell, in whose long epis- 
copate (1819-1865) the Church in 
Connecticut made much quiet pro- 
gress. An Episcopal Academy had 
been founded under the first bishop; 
but a college charter could not be 
secured for it. In 1823, however, a 
charter was granted for Washington 
College, now Trinity College, in the 
foundation of which the Church peo- 
ple took a prominent part; and va- 
rious diocesan boards of trustees were 




22 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



organized. Fourteen years before 
Bishop Brownell's death, Dr. John 
Williams was chosen to be his assist- 
ant ; and he was the bishop of the dio- 
cese for thirty-four years after Dr 
Brownell's death, his episcopate ex- 
tending from 1851 to 1899. He was 
a man of great learning and of great 
influence both in Connecticut and in 
the councils of the national Church. 
He founded the Berkeley Divinity 
School for candidates for Orders, and 
was for forty-five years its Dean ; and 
like the first and the third bishops of 
the diocese, he was for the latter part 
of his life the Presiding Bishop. The 
present Bishop, Dr. Chauncey B. 
Brewster, was consecrated in 1897, 



and was for two years Bishop Will- 
iams's coadjutor. 

As early as 1750, it was estimated 
that the adherents of the Church of 
England in Connecticut were a four- 
teenth part of the population. At the 
present time, in spite of the fact that 
much more than half of the in- 
habitants of the State are of foreign 
birth or immediate foreign descent, 
the direct ministrations of the Church 
extend to (perhaps) one-tenth of the 
population. About one person in 
twenty-six is recorded as a communi- 
cant on our rolls; and this ratio, 
though of necessity declining, is be- 
lieved to be still greater than that in 
any other State of the Union. 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO 
CONNECTICUT" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

HERE again, as in November, the 
school histories will be a great help, 
and many of your children will 
already have some idea of the extension 
of settlement westward from Massa- 
chusetts; first in Rhode Island and then 
in Connecticut. A large part of the state 
was settled by representatives of the 
Puritan colonies in New England, but 
the New Haven settlers came almost 
directly from England. See McCon- 
nell's "History of the Church in Amer- 
ica," Johnston's "Connecticut" in the 
American Commonwealths Series, and 
Volume I of Beardsley's "History of the 
Church in Connecticut." 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Massachusetts — the subject of our last 
lesson — is the home of Harvard Univer- 
sity. Ask what other great universities 
the members of the class know. Of 
course you will try to bring them to 
name "Yale" at New Haven, about 
which some of the interest in this lesson 
centres. It might be worth while to 
bring out also that an eagerness for edu- 
cation was characteristic of the early 
colonists. If your class is too young, or 
for any other reason this point of con- 
tact is not adequate, ask what they know 
about bishops, and who they suppose 
was the first^ bishop in America. Pos- 
sibly in some instances both these "leads" 
might be followed. 



I. The Beginnings. 

1. Whence came the first settlers of 
Connecticut? 

2. What was their attitude toward the 
Church and the ministry? 

3. What can you say of the influence 
of the Prayer Book at this time? 

4. Tell about the first service by one 
of our clergy, and the first estab- 
lished parish. 

II. The Colonial Church. 

1. What great things happened in 1722? 

2. Tell about the four men who sailed 
for Europe for ordination. 

3. What were the difficulties in not 
having a bishop? 

4. What was the state of the Church in 
Connecticut at the outbreak of the 
Revolution? 

III. Bishop Seabury. 

1. What did the Church in Connecti- 
cut determine to secure? 

2. Describe the choice of their first 
bishop. 

3. Tell something about Samuel Sea- 
bury. 

4. What experiences did he have in 
seeking consecration? 

5. What can you say about his after- 
influence upon the Church in the 
United States? 

IV. What Has Followed? 

1. Tell something of Bishop Seabury's 
successors. 

2. Who was the greatest among them? 

3. What is the present status of the 
Church in Connecticut? 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



Note: When this article appeared in "THE SPIRIT OF MISSIONS" it brought 
out some adverse criticism. Especially was the statement that "Maryland and re- 
ligious liberty are synonymous" called into question. So far as the editor can judge, 
authorities differ on this subject. Those who wish to acquaint themselves with 
another point of view are referred to "Religion Under the Barons of Baltimore," by 
the Reverend Dr. C. Ernest Smith, rector of Saint Thomas's Church, Washington, 
D. C. 



v.- 

Hoto <£ttr Cfmrcf) Came to <!^ur Country 



IV. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO MARYLAND 
By Percy G. Skirven 



I. Maryland and Religious 
Liberty 

MARYLAND and religious lib- 
erty are synonymous. The 
poet tells us that the pilgrims 
of New England came to that land 
seeking "Freedom to worship God"; 
but it was Maryland that, first among 
all the colonies, offered to all creeds 
an opportunity to worship as their 
consciences dictated. 

Very naturally you wonder how this 
came about; for George Calvert, the 
first Lord Baltimore, to whom the 
Charter for the Province was granted 
in 1632, was an avowed Roman 
Catholic, and in giving him the charter 
the King placed Calvert in absolute 
ownership of the land contained 
within the bounds of the province. 

George Calvert was born of Church 
of England parents, at Kipling, York- 
shire, England, 1582, and developed 
into a man of large capabilities. King 
Charles, recognizing in him the quali- 
ties of an excellent business man and 
an astute politician, made Calvert his 
principal Secretary of State. In 
frankly stating his conversion to the 
Roman Church he so impressed the 
King with his honesty that he con- 
tinued him in the Privy Council, and 
later, in 1625, made him Baron Balti- 
more, of Baltimore, in the County of 
Longford, Ireland. 

Having failed in a former endeavor 
toward colonizing in Newfoundland, 
George Calvert made a visit to the 
coast of North America. Being im- 
pressed with what he saw during a 
visit to the Virginia Colony in 1629 
he asked for the territory now known 
as Maryland. Here he had expected 
to build a fortune for himself and his 



family, and as a secondary considera- 
tion to establish a colony for his 
Roman Catholic friends, where they 
might worship without persecution. 
Destined never to realize his cherished 
ambitions, George Calvert died in 
April, 1632, before the charter re- 
ceived the Great Seal. This, however, 
did not prevent the King from signing 
that paper on June 20, 1632, granting 
to Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord 
Baltimore, all his father had asked. 

The encouragement thus offered 
Calvert was sufficient to cause a great 
outlay of money by him in fitting out 
two vessels, the Ark and the Dove, 
and providing about 300 colonists for 
the voyage to America. Leonard Cal- 
vert was sent out as governor of the 
colony, and the expedition left Eng- 
land in November, 1633. After a 
long and stormy voyage by way of 
the West Indies they sailed into the 
Chesapeake Bay on the 27th of Febru- 
ary, 1634, and landed March 25th. 

Of those who came over in the Ark 
and the Dove, the majority were of 
the Anglican faith.* There does not 
appear any record of a clergyman 
among them, nor of services held ac- 
cording to the Church of England 
very soon after the landing. It is 
generally believed that Anglicans and 
Roman Catholics for some years wor- 
shiped in the chapel at St. Mary's. 

Cecilius Calvert was a great- 
hearted, far-sighted nobleman, en- 
dowed with common sense, and well- 
liked by the majority of the colonists. 
He realized that he had a valuable 
gift in this fine domain, interlaced as 
it was with beautiful rivers, and di- 
vided by the great Chesapeake Bay. 

* Johnson's Founding of Md., p. 32. 






}fi 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



He also realized that he held the char- 
ter under a Protestant Government, 
and that owing to the religious feeling 
in England at that time it was impos- 
sible for him to establish an exclu- 
sively Roman Catholic colony ; indeed, 
he shrewdly avoided all conditions 
that would tend to mar the success of 
his undertaking. "Religious liberty" 
was the most valuable asset that Cal- 
vert had, and, like all good business 
men, he looked after his business 
assets with great care. He never came 
to Maryland, but he was kept in touch 
with the affairs by his brother, Leon- 
ard, the governor. 

Upon the arrival of the colonists 
they at once began to settle the 
country along the rivers and creeks, 
building houses and planting the 
cleared land with corn and vegetables. 
The warmth of the spring-time soon 
helped to overcome the disagreeable 
experiences of life in the New World. 
The first two years of the colony 
Lord Baltimore expended more than 
forty thousand pounds sterling in the 
transportation of emigrants and pro- 
visions into Maryland. 

As the Assembly in 1636 was com- 
posed of a majority of Roman Catho- 
lics, there were some complaints 
made by the other colonists, and to 
allay their fears Cecilius Calvert re- 
quired the following oath of his gov- 
ernor : 

"I will not by myself or any other, di- 
rectly or indirectly, trouble, molest or dis- 
countenance any person professing to believe 
in Jesus Christ, for or in respect of religion ; 
I will make no difference of persons in con- 
ferring offices, favors or rewards, for or in 
respect of religion, but merely as they shall 
be found faithful and well-deserving, and 
endued with moral virtue and abilities. My 
aim shall be public unity, and if any person 
or official shall molest any person profess- 
ing to believe in Jesus Christ, on account 
of his religion, I will protect the person 
molested and punish the offender." 

This oath was the forerunner of the 
so-called "Toleration Act" passed by 
the Assembly in 1649. Shortly after 
the adoption of the Governor's oath, 



about the year 1642, the first building 
was erected for the Church of Eng- 
land worshipers in St. Mary's 
County — Trinity Church. Without 
the formal induction of a minister, 
the congregation worshiped here 
without interference. Further up the 
Potomac River the old Poplar Hill 
(St. George's) Church was built 
about the same time. It was in this 
church in 1650 that the first perma- 
nent Church of England minister, the 
Rev. William Wilkinson, began his 
thirteen years of ministry. Another 
church was built for the Church of 
England colonists at St. Clement's 
Manor, about the same time as Trin- 
ity and Poplar Hill. This church was 
built by Thomas Gerrard for the con- 
venience of his Protestant wife, her 
friends and her servants. In the 
building of these churches may be 
seen the immediate results of Lord 
Baltimore's assurances of protection 
to the colonists in religious worship. 

When King Charles I was executed, 
and the Commonwealth was estab- 
lished under Cromwell, Lord Balti- 
more at once set about solving the 
difficult problem of retaining posses- 
sion of his colony while Cromwell and 
the Puritans were at the head of the 
government in England. With char- 
acteristic shrewdness he concluded 
that the best way to do this was to 
change the complexion of the Council 
so that it would give to the Protestants 
half of the votes. He also ap- 
pointed a Protestant governor of the 
colony, William Stone. Feeling that 
his province was still in danger of con- 
fiscation, he prepared and had passed 
by the Assembly in 1649, that law 
which has become known as the 
"Maryland Toleration Act." The first 
clause decreed the death penalty for 
those who blasphemed God. The 
second provided against the calling of 
names. The enumeration of these is 
interesting, because they show the 
different sects then within the prov- 
ince; they are: "Heretick, Schisma- 




ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND 

Built in 1713, it is the oldest building in the state used continuously as a place of worship. The "vestry 
house," built in 1766, is seen at the left. 



tick, Idolator, Puritan, Independent, 
Prespiterian, Popish Priest, Jesuite, 
Jesuited Popist, Lutheran, Calvanist, 
Anabaptist, Brownist, Antinomian, 
Barrowist, Roundhead and Separat- 
ist." The Sabbath was not to be pro- 
faned. The last clause, most impor- 
tant of all, was as follows : 

"That no person or persons whatsoever 
within this Province, professing to believe 
in Jesus Christ, shall from henceforth be 
any waiss troubled, molested or discounte- 
nanced for or in respect of his or her reli- 
gion, nor in the free exercise thereof within 
this Province; nor any way compelled to 
beliefe or exercise of any other Religion 
against his or her consent, soe as they be 
not unfaithful to the Lord Proprietary, or 
molest or conspire against the Civil Govern- 
ment established, or to be established, in 
this Province under him or his heires." 

The passage of this law was her- 
alded in England, and had its imme- 
diate effect on the emigration to the 
colony. Men of character and wealth 
were attracted to this delightful 
country of the New World. The 



various religious sects, finding full 
protection in their worship, lived in 
harmony with their neighbors. A 
great reform had been brought about 
in a peculiar way ! 

//. Establishing the Church 

From the passing of the Toleration 
Act in 1649 to the Protestant revolu- 
tion in 1688, the missionary work in 
Maryland was productive of very lit- 
tle result. The Church of England 
was interested in the missionary work 
in Virginia, but under the provision 
of the Charter of Maryland, co-opera- 
tion between the Proprietary and the 
Church was still impossible. Lord 
Baltimore still neglected to appoint 
ministers of the Church to "livings" 
in the colony. However, this did not 
prevent the gradual growth of the 
missionary movement, and throughout 
the province faithful Churchmen held 
the regular services on Sunday. 

On Kent Island a church was built 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



on Broad Creek about the year 1652. 
This was near where the Rev. Richard 
James had preached eighteen years 
earlier.* Prior to 1671, Rev. Charles 
Nicholet, "a minister of God's Word," 
preached in the upper part of Kent 
County. He owned 150 acres on the 
north side of Still Pond Creek, which 
he called "Lynn," and upon selling 
this property, in March, 1671, he went 
to Virginia. At a church in Baltimore 
County on the Bush River, the Rev. 
John Yeo preached in 1683. In Cal- 
vert County the Rev. William Mullett 
held services in 1684, and in 1682, in 
Anne Arundel County, the Rev. Duall 
Pead baptized children. These were 
the earliest of the clergy to. come to 
the province to engage in missionary 
work. 

When William of Orange ascended 
the throne, Lord Baltimore opposed 
the revolution in England which con- 
ferred the crown on William, and the 
enemies of Lord Baltimore early in- 
duced the King to uphold a rebellious 
body of men in Maryland known as 
the "Associators," and to take away 
Baltimore's right to govern the colony. 
Under date of March 12th, 1691, 
an address to the settlers was sent 
to Maryland in which appears the fol- 
lowing : 

"Wee have thought fitt to take our Prov- 
ince of Maryland under our immediate care 
and Protection, and by letters Patentt under 
the Great Seale of England to appoint Our 
trusty and well-beloved Lionel Copley, 
Esq., of whose Prudence and Loyalty we 
are assured, to bee our Governor thereof." 

This ended the rule of the Balti- 
mores as Roman Catholics, and not 
until 1715, when Benedict Calvert 
embraced the doctrines of the Estab- 
lished Church of England, did they 
regain their right to administer the 
government of the province. 

Governor Copley's commission, 
dated February 14th, 1691, outlined 

- * William Claiborne, a member of the Virginia 
Company, established a trading post at Kent 
Island, and brought there, in 1632, the Rev. Rich- 
ard James, who conducted the first services of the 
Church of England within the territory known 
as Maryland. 



the policy he was instructed to pursue. 
The establishing of the Church of 
England by law was one of the first 
movements he was to set on foot. 
The right of induction of ministers 
was vested in him and upon close 
examination of his commission it will 
be seen that he came as the personal 
representative of both the Crown and 
the Church of England. 

The report to the Assembly in 
1694, made by the justices of the ten 
different counties of the province, 
showed that there were thirty par- 
ishes — twenty-two churches and nine 
ministers. Upon the death of Gov- 
ernor Copley, Sir Francis Nicholson 
was sent out as governor, and to him 
the work of building up the Church 
was a pleasure. 

Governor Nicholson took the great- 
est interest in perfecting the establish- 
ment, and offered by way of an in- 
centive "that if a way can be found 
out to build a house in every parish 
for the ministers his Excellency 
(Nicholson) does propose to give five 
pounds Sterling towards building 
every such house begun in his Excel- 
lency's time." His influence was the 
strongest help the Church in Mary- 
land had at that time. The expenses 
of transportation of the ministers into 
the province was allowed them, and 
in the year 1697 nine more clergymen 
came into the colony, making eighteen 
in all. The time had now arrived for 
a personal representative of the 
Bishop of London to take charge of 
the affairs of the Church, and Dr. 
Thomas Bray, one of the greatest mis- 
sionaries ever sent out from England, 
and noted for his godliness and great 
intelligence, was sent to Maryland by 
Bishop Compton to settle the affairs 
of the infant Church. 

Dr. Bray left England on December 
20th, 1699, and arrived in the colony 
in March, 1700. Going at once to 
Annapolis he summoned the clergy to 
a "visitation," which was held in that 
city on May 23rd, 1700. There were 



21) 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




TRINITY CHURCH, ST. MARY'S COUNTY, 
MARYLAND 

Built of brick from the first State House. The 

altar is from the mulberry tree under which Lord 

Baltimore made a treaty with the Indians. 

present seventeen clergymen repre- 
senting fifteen of the parishes. To 
these he delivered a charge, and gave 
them instructions in their clerical 
work. This good man was able so 
to impress the importance of the 
establishment upon both the clergy 
and the Assembly that the work re- 
ceived a great impetus. 

After a short period (less than six 
months) of hard work in the province 
in the interest of the Church, Dr. 
Bray returned to England to help in 
getting a law passed that would firmly 
establish the Church in Maryland. 

Dr. Bray gave his personal attention 
to the law and, after many difficulties, 
when the Assembly convened at 
Annapolis on March 8th, 1702, Gov- 
ernor Nathaniel Blackistone in- 
structed the members of the Assembly 
to "fill in the blanks and pass the bill 
without amendment." This was done 
and the Assembly adjourned, having 
passed the "Act for the Establishment 
of Religious Worship in this Province 
According to the Church of England 
and for the Maintainance of Minis- 



ters," by which law the Church in 
Maryland was governed for over 
seventy years, until the outbreak of 
the Revolution. 

Space forbids telling the story of 
the S. P. G. missionaries who fol- 
lowed Dr. Bray, and kept alive the 
spirit of religion, laying foundations 
for the future Church in Maryland. 
We must also pass over the interesting 
Revolutionary period with its "Declar- 
ation of Rights," its "Vestry Act" 
(1798), etc. (for these, see Hawk's 
"Narratives") ; and pass on to speak 
of 

///. Two of Maryland's Bishops 
It is of course impossible, within 
the limits of so brief an article, prop- 
erly to trace the history of the Church 
in Maryland; but at least two of 
Maryland's bishops should be men- 
tioned. The first, Thomas John Clag- 
gett, for many years rector of St. 
James's Church, Anne Arundel 
County, was not only the first bishop 
of Maryland but the first man conse- 
crated to the episcopate on American 
soil. 

Many Church people are still unfa- 
miliar with the fact that, late as we 
were in securing the episcopate for 
the Church in the United States, we 
nevertheless were in advance of the 
Roman Catholics. The first bishop of 



■f* 




STATE HOUSE, ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND 

Here the Assembly passed many laws affecting 

the Church. 



30 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




BISHOP CLAGGETT 

the Roman Church to reach America 
was John Carroll, Bishop of Balti- 
more, who was consecrated in 1790. 
At that date Bishops Seabury of Con- 
necticut, White of Pennsylvania and 
Provoost of New York had already 
been consecrated and were established 
in their sees, giving us the three 
bishops necessary to extend the 
episcopate; it having always been re- 
quired that three bishops should unite 
in a consecration. 

On Thursday, May 31st, 1792, 
twenty-three clergy and twenty-seven 
lay delegates met at Annapolis to 
choose a bishop for Maryland. 
The clergy unanimously elected Dr. 
Claggett, which election was unani- 
mously confirmed by the lay dele- 
gates, and on September 17th of 
that year he was consecrated in Trin- 
ity Church, New York, Bishops Pro- 
voost of New York, White of Penn- 
sylvania, Seabury of Connecticut and 
Rhode Island, and Madison of Vir- 



ginia, uniting in the laying-on of 
hands. This was the only consecra- 
tion in which Bishop Seabury took 
part, as he died before another conse- 
cration occurred. In Bishop Clag- 
gett were united the English and Scot- 
tish lines of succession; Bishops 
White, Provoost and Madison had 
been consecrated at Lambeth, Bishop 
Seabury in Aberdeen. Thus our 
episcopal succession was strengthened. 

For the twenty-four years that he 
served in the episcopate Bishop Clag- 
gett never received a dollar of salary 
from the convention, nor even the full 
payment of his expenses. He was 
continuously in charge of a parish, and 
practically provided his living by his 
services as a parish priest. 

The Church immediately began to 
grow. Two years after his consecra- 
tion, Bishop Claggett, in his conven- 
tion address, says: "I have admitted 
three gentlemen to priest's and three 
to deacon's orders; I have seen six 
new churches building, several old 
ones under repair and have confirmed 
about 2,000 persons." Bishop Clag- 
gett in his later years became so in- 
firm that assistance was provided for 
him in the person of a suffragan, 
James Kemp — the first and the only 
instance for many years of a suffragan 
bishop in the American Church. 
Bishop Claggett died in 1816 and was 
buried in the little parish of Croom. 

The second of Maryland's bishops 
who demands our attention is William 
R. Whittingham. Bishop Whitting- 
ham was a professor in the General 
Theological Seminary, and was conse- 
crated in 1840 as the fourth bishop 
of Maryland, over which he presided 
for thirty-nine years. Bishop Whit- 
tingham was a man who joined the 
highest ability of the scholar with a 
saintly and beautiful life. 

An interesting story is told of 
Bishop Whittingham in connection 
with St. Luke's Church, Wye, a chapel 
more than a hundred years old, which 
had fallen into dilapidation. "It be- 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



came necessary that Bishop Whitting- 
ham and three friends should reach a 
certain steamboat-landing very early 
in the morning. The way led them 
near this old church. Going to it they 
found that the church had become a 
stable. The cattle were driven out, 
and then, standing in the desecrated 
chancel, in the gray light of the morn- 
ing, the bishop said, 'Let us pray,' and 
the four brethren knelt together. He 
poured out his soul in supplication, 
entreating the Lord to revive His 
work, to build the old waste places 
and make the sound of praise to be 
again heard in this house called by 
His name. The service ended, they 
barred the entrance with fence-rails 
and went their way. But before they 
had left the building they contributed 
what was the foundation of a fund 
for the restoration of the church, and 
on the 20th day of July, 1854 this 
ancient temple was set apart, by 
Bishop Whittingham to the worship 
of God, and has since been in con- 
stant use." 

Bishop Whittingham was among 
the great teachers of the American 
Church. Churchmen everywhere 
sought the benefit of his sound schol- 
arship and his wise judgment. Per- 
haps the most difficult position in 
which he found himself was that cre- 
ated by the Civil War. Many Mary- 
landers loved the South, but its bishop 
remained steadfast to the Union 
and was outspoken in its defense. 
Thus did he sacrifice the love of life- 
long friends, and took upon himself a 
burden which well-nigh 
broke his heart. Yet he 
lived to aid in the restora- 
tion of a united Church, and 
to see a better day dawn. 

IV. The Later Days 

Maryland presents un- 
usual conditions. There are 
three dioceses, almost as di- 
verse as could be imagined. 
The diocese of Easton, on 



the Eastern Shore, lying between 
Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic, is a 
quiet rural land, dotted with old towns 
and villages, all breathing a simplic- 
ity and quiet peace which reminds one 
of the early days of American life. 
Here, in some of the earliest settle- 
ments, the visitor may be entertained 
in a hospitable home whose walls, two 
feet thick, are laid with brick brought 
from England in the early days of the 
colony. Easton has 64 parishes and 
missions, with 3,600 communicants, 
ministered to by thirty-four clergy. 

Just across Chesapeake Bay is the 
diocese of Maryland, with its great 
city of Baltimore, its 121 clergy and 
28,000 communicants. It embraces 
all of the state of Maryland west of 
Chesapeake Bay, with the exception 
of the diocese of Washington, which 
includes the District of Columbia and 
the counties of St. Mary's, Charles, 
Prince George's and Montgomery. For 
seventy-six years the whole of the 
state of Maryland was administered 
as one diocese. Easton was set off in 
1868, largely on account of its inac- 
cessibility, and in 1895 the Church 
created the diocese of Washington, 
centering in the national capital; but 
the ancient traditions and the right of 
primogeniture, together with the old 




ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, BALTIMORE 






d i* 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



name, belongs to the diocese of Mary- 
land. Its present bishop is the seventh 
in order of consecration from Bishop 
Claggett. 

To the diocese of Washington the 
eye of the Church naturally turns as 
representing in a peculiar way her 
national character. Here, at the seat 
of government, the Church is en- 
throned in the great cathedral rising 
on Mount St. Alban, and in this dio- 
cese 114 clergy minister to 23,000 
communicants. Bishop Satterlee, its 
first diocesan, had a great vision of 
what the Church might become in the 
capital of the nation. The builders of 
the Washington cathedral, as they look 
toward the east, where the Rev. Rich- 
ard James conducted on Kent Island 
the first services of the Church of 
England, see within the bounds of the 
state of Maryland 50,000 communi- 
cants of the Church where, under such 



difficulty and distress, the early mis- 
sionary pioneers laid foundations for 
the future. 

Most fittingly and beautifully the 
old and the new are bound together in 
the Washington cathedral, for here 
are deposited the remains of the first 
Bishop of Maryland. When, in 1898, 
the General Convention met in the 
city of Washington, it was determined 
that the dust of Bishop Claggett 
should be brought from the obscurity 
of his Maryland country parish and 
reinterred on the site of the cathedral. 
Thus on November 1st of that year 
the mortal remains of the first Bishop 
of Maryland and his faithful wife 
were deposited beneath the chancel of 
the chapel on the cathedral site at 
Mount St. Alban, the ceremony being 
conducted by Bishop Satterlee, who 
himself now lies buried there. 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO 

MARYLAND" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

GENERAL histories will tell much 
about the founding of Maryland, and 
the Roman Catholic family of the 
Calverts. Remember that the setting is in 
the time of England's great struggle be- 
tween the ideals of "divine right" as held by 
King Charles and the extravagant democ- 
racy of the followers of Cromwell. Prob- 
ably no history of the Church in Maryland 
is easily accessible, but a public library may 
have some of the following volumes: John- 
son's "Founding of Maryland," "The 
Archives of Maryland," or some of the an- 
nals of the Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel. Information may also be found 
in the "Encyclopedia Britannica." 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Try to find out what your class under- 
stands by "religious toleration." Help them 
to see that this attitude, which seems so 
natural to us in America, is a com- 
paratively new thing in the world. Il- 
lustrations of this are manifold. Show how 
remarkable it is that a successful example 
of it should have been worked out in the 
stormiest period of English history by the 
Roman Catholic governor of a colony 3,000 
miles across the ocean. 



I. Maryland and Religious Liberty. 

1. Tell something of George Calvert. 

2. Tell about the coming of the Ark and 
the Dove. 

3. What names were the early Mary- 
landers forbidden to call one another? 

4. What was the Toleration Act? 

II. Establishing the Church. 

1. What Church clergyman first min- 
istered in Maryland, and where? 

2. How did the Calverts lose their colony? 

3. Tell what some of the early governors 
did for the Church. 

4. Tell of the Society for the Propaga- 
tion of the Gospel, and of Dr. Bray. 

III. Two of Maryland's Bishops. 



Clag- 



i. What unique distinction had Dr. 
gett in the episcopate? 

2. What branch of the Church first had 
bishops settled in the United States? 

3. What two lines were united in Bishop 
Claggett ? 

4. Tell about Bishop Whitingham. 
IV. The Later Days. 

1. Name the three dioceses now within 
the bounds of Maryland. 

2. Describe general conditions of each. 

3. Why are we specially interested in the 
diocese of Washington? 

4. Where is Bishop Claggett buried? 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



3? 



2|oto ®uv Cfmrcfj Came to <^ur Country 



V. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO NEW YORK 
By the Rev. Arthur W . Jenks, D.D. 



I. The Earliest Days 

THE coming of the Church to the 
territory now known as New 
York took place literally with the 
discovery of the harbor and river now 
the port of New York, by Henry 
Hudson, a member of the English 
Church. Hudson, however, was in 
the employ of a Dutch company, and 
the religion of Holland was Presby- 
terian. Accordingly, with the occupa- 
tion of Manhattan Island in 1626, the 
Dutch Reformed was the official re- 
ligion, and continued to be so until 
the final capture and occupation of the 
settlement by the English in 1674. 
The first use of the Prayer Book for 
Church services by those members of 
the colony who belonged to the 
Church of England is recorded to 
have been in 1663. There was, at that 
early date, no church building, but the 
English service followed the Dutch 
service in the place set apart for re- 
ligious assemblies in the fort. 

With the permanent taking over of 
the colony by the English, and the 
sending out of a strong Churchman — 
Edmund Andros — as Governor, came 
a chaplain appointed by the Duke of 
York — the Rev. Charles Wolley, of 
the University of Cambridge. 

At the period in English history 
during which these early events in the 
colony occurred, the Church of Eng- 
land was in full exercise of her sacra- 
mental system and other privileges 
after the disastrous period of Puritan 
ascendency under Cromwell, and the 
years necessary to recovery after the 
restoration of Charles the Second. 
Some of her most saintly bishops and 



other clergy, as well as some of her 
greatest scholars, belong to this era. 
Governor Andros, who came out to 
the colony in 1674, is described as "a 
stiff Churchman," while at the same 
time his orders were in the direction 
of religious tolerance. For a time, 
opposition to the use of the Prayer 
Book by the chaplain to the forces was 
strong. Although the population of 
the colony had grown to sixteen thou- 
sand, yet many forms of religion were 
included among them, and the number 
of English Churchmen was propor- 
tionately small ; hence the caution with 
which the authorities and the chaplain 
felt compelled to proceed. 

Governor Andros was succeeded by 
Governor Dongan, who was a Roman 
Catholic. The Duke of York, who 
had acted in the early affairs of the 
colony, had now become King of Eng- 
land as James II. Himself a Roman 
Catholic, he lost his throne in the end 
because he tried to get the papacy 
into religious power in England. The 
new governor naturally favored the 
Roman Catholics, which caused dis- 
satisfaction among the loyal English, 
and set the Church of England some- 
what in disfavor. Hence there was a 
feeling of relief when Dongan's term 
of service came to an end and the 
former regime was restored, Andros 
having been appointed Governor-Gen- 
eral over the territory which included 
New York, New Jersey and New 
England. He himself resided in Bos- 
ton and appointed Francis Nicholson 
to serve as Deputy Governor over 
New York. 

With the overthrow of James II 



34 



Mow Our Church Came to Our Country 



and the coming to the throne of Will- 
iam and Mary, the Roman Catholic 
influence disappeared from the New 
York colony, and it was only a ques- 
tion whether the official influence 
should be used to establish the Church 
of England or Presbyterian dissent. 
Governor Slaughter favored the 
Church of England, and his successor, 
Governor Fletcher, endeavored to get 
a bill passed by the Assembly legaliz- 
ing the "religion of the Church of 
England" and providing "against Sab- 
bath breaking, swearing and all other 
profanity." The bill was not passed 
in quite such terms as Fletcher 
wished, but did provide for the settle- 
ment of a fund for a ministry in the 
City of New York and in three other 
counties. 

In accordance with this Act of the 
Assembly, early in 1694, the free- 
holders of New York elected two war- 
dens and ten vestrymen, who later 
held a meeting and by a majority vote 
declared it their opinion that "a Dis- 
senting minister be called to have the 
Cure of Souls for this Citty." The 
minority, which favored the Church 
of England, was, however, influential 
and persistent, and with the assistance 
of the governor managed to block 
action until the membership of the 
vestry was changed by a new election. 

77. The First Priest and Parish 
A fresh election of a vestry, held 
early in 1696, was altogether favor- 
able to the Church, and as a result the 
members elected William Vesey to 
"have the care of souls in this City 
of New York." William Vesey came 
of a Church of England family set- 
tled at Braintree, Mass., which had 
been bitterly hostile to the rank Puri- 
tanism of Massachusetts Congrega- 
tionalism, his father being on public 
record as "bound over for plowing 
on the day of Thanksgiving," by 
which action he had expressed his 
protest against the setting aside of the 
Festivals and Fasts of the Church and 
substituting other days according to 



Puritan notions. Young Vesey en- 
tered Harvard College at the age of 
fifteen (he was already a communi- 
cant of the Church), and graduated 
at nineteen. It appears that it had 
been his intention to study for Holy 
Orders on leaving college, but as he 
was below the age for ordination, he 
occupied the interval before attaining 
the required age of twenty-one by act- 
ing as a lay-reader in different con- 
gregations on Long Island. This has 
given rise to the misunderstanding 
that he was a dissenter, and the alle- 
gation that he entered the ministry of 
the Church from motives of ambition 
and worldly gain. 

As there was no bishop in the 
colonies, Mr. Vesey, like many others 
in those days, had to go across the 
ocean to secure ordination. Oxford 
University conferred upon him the de- 
gree of Master of Arts and on July 

12, 1696, he was ordained priest, after 
which he returned to New York. 

Mr. Vesey had been elected "Min- 
ister of the City of New York" and 
had accepted the position before go- 
ing to England, but in his absence a 
more definite Church organization 
was accomplished by chartering a par- 
ish after the English plan. On May 
6, 1697, took place the incorporation 
of Trinity Parish in the City of New 
York in America, and steps were at 
once taken for erecting a suitable 
church building. The parish had 
been organized with the Bishop of 
London as nominal rector. Mr. Vesey 
was elected rector on Christmas Eve, 
1697, and on Christmas Day was in- 
ducted into the rectorship. 

Trinity Church was opened for 
services for the first time on March 

13, 1698, on which occasion Mr. 
Vesey, according to the English 
phrase, "read himself in," that is, 
after reading morning and evening 
service, he publicly declared, before 
the congregation, his unfeigned assent 
and consent to all and everything con- 
tained in and by the book entitled the 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



35 




THE REV. WILLIAM VESEY, D.D. 

First minister in New York and for fifty years 
rector of Trinity Church 

Book of Common Prayer and ad- 
ministration of the Sacraments and 
other rites and ceremonies of the 
Church, according to the use of the 
Church of England. 

Mr. Vesey continued rector of 
Trinity Parish for nearly fifty years, 
and during a great part of that period 
almost all the Church life of the col- 
ony centered in Trinity Church. Dif- 
ferent governors took different at- 
titudes towards the parish, but on the 
whole it was recognized as having a 
certain official status in relation to the 
Established Church, so that it was 
considered proper for the officials of 
the State to attend public worship 
there. The gradual lengthening out 
of the parish, which now extends for 
many miles up through Manhattan 
Island with a chain of "chapels," 
eight in number, began with the build- 
ing of St. Paul's Chapel, finished in 
1763. 

The beginnings of the storm which 
resulted in the War of Independence 
disturbed the religious atmosphere 
also, but this did not prevent attempts 



to organize the Church more fully, 
and in 1766 the clergy of the New 
York colony united with those of New 
Jersey and Connecticut in holding a 
convention with a membership of 
fourteen, a president and secretary be- 
ing chosen, two special sessions being 
held the next year. But, of course, 
as the relations between the colonies 
and the mother country became more 
strained, the Church found herself in 
a difficult position, and with her clergy 
under increasing suspicion from those 
who were working for independence. 
The clergy and the Church herself, 
from their connection with the State, 
were distasteful to Dissenters to such 
an extent that the rector of Trinity 
retired to the country. When the 
British troops entered New York, the 
situation was made easier for the 
Church, but soon after, in the great 
fire that broke out, Trinity Church 
and the rectory were burned. The 
new rector, Mr. Inglis, was brought 
to the ruined church for his institu- 




THE FIRST TRINITY CHURCH 
Begun in 1696; finished in 1697. Originally a 
small square edifice, it was enlarged as shown in 

1737 and destroyed by fire in 1776. 



3G 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



tion, placing his hand upon the par- 
tially destroyed wall at the time of in- 
duction. While, the war was still go- 
ing on, the church in the city across 
the East River at Brooklyn was 
opened for divine service, according 
to the use of the Church of England ; 
a fact indicating that even in the sore 
stress of the war the Church was ex- 
tending. 

III. The Church Expanding 
With the end of the war and the 
establishing of the United States of 
America as an independent nation, the 
Church entered upon a new phase of 
her life in the New World. Two 
obstacles to growth and development 
had to be faced and removed before 
the Church in the United States could 
live her own life as a national Church 
— that is as that portion of the Church 
described in the creeds as "One, Holy, 
Catholic and Apostolic," organized 
within the confines of the nation. It 
was necessary to live down the un- 
popularity attaching to an origin 
from the Church of England which 
lingered long among Dissenters and 
Roman Catholics, who felt that they 
had suffered in England at the hands 
of the Established Church. But 
most important was the obtaining of 
the Episcopate in such manner as 
should leave no shadow of doubt as to 
the full and valid transmission of min- 
isterial power and authority from the 
Apostolic age down through the in- 
tervening centuries. 

In this survey of the history of the 
Church in New York, it is not neces- 
sary to go into the narrative of the 
events leading up to the consecration 
of Bishop Seabury, which has already 
been told in another paper in this 
series. New York endorsed an appli- 
cation made by the convention held 
in Philadelphia, to the English 
Bishops, to consecrate bishops for the 
Church in the United States, and at 
an adjourned meeting the New York 
convention recommended for episco- 
pal consecration the Rev. Samuel 



Provoost to be Bishop of New York. 
The consecration of Dr. Provoost 
took place in London, in the Chapel 
at Lambeth Palace, rich in historic 
associations, on Sunday, February 4, 
1787. The Rev. William White was 
consecrated at the same time as 
Bishop of Pennsylvania. Both of the 
English Archbishops, Dr. Moore, of 
Canterbury, and Dr. Markham, of 
York, officiated, assisted by the Bishop 
of Peterborough and the Bishop of 
Bath and Wells, only a small congre- 
gation being present. Nevertheless, 
the occasion was a momentous one, as 
once and for all the connection was 
made through the English bishops, as 
a few years earlier it had been made 
through the Scottish bishops, between 
the Church in the United States of 
America and the historic Church of 
all the Christian centuries, ensuring 
henceforth the true teaching and valid 
sacraments of the Church within the 
limits of tne new nation. 

The arrival of Bishop Provoost in 
New York occurred with considerable 
significance on Easter Day, when the 
Church commemorates the rising to 
newness of life of the Head of the 
Church, and the diocese was now in 
possession of the full power for the 
transmission of the true Life to all. 
Another occasion of great importance 
was the day, July 15, 1787, when the 
first ordination to the Church's min- 
istry in the diocese of New York took 
place, two being then set apart as 
deacons in St. George's Chapel, at that 
time a chapel of Trinity parish. A 
New York daily paper of the time 
comments upon the service as follows : 
"The chapel was crowded, the cere- 
monies of Episcopal ordination being 
novel in America. The solemnity of the 
occasion, the great good conduct which 
was observed through every part of 
it, and an excellent sermon, delivered 
by the Rev. Benjamin Moore, with 
an admired diction and eloquence 
peculiar to him, made a pleasing im- 
pression upon the audience." 



3? 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



It is of considerable interest to note 
the attainments ascribed to the first 
Bishop of New York in scholarship as 
indicating the high standard of those 
days for our clergy : "As a scholar he 
was deeply versed in classical lore, 
and in the records of Ecclesiastical 
History and Church Polity. To a 
very accurate knowledge of the He- 
brew he added a profound acquaint- 
ance with the Greek, Latin, French, 
German, Italian and other languages. 
He made considerable progress also 
in the natural and physical sciences, 
of which botany was his favorite 
branch." 

Bishop Provoost died in 1815. He 
had been both rector of Trinity and 
bishop of the diocese until 1800, when 
he resigned the former post, and in 
1801 he gave up the active duties of 
the episcopate, though his resignation 
was not accepted, and he was given 
an assistant bishop in the person of 
Dr. Benjamin Moore, who succeeded 
to the rectorship of Trinity and to 
the diocese as its bishop on the death 
of Bishop Provoost. The slow growth 
of the Church throughout the state is 
indicated by the fact that in 1805 only 
thirteen clergy and lay delegates from 
fourteen parishes were present at the 
diocesan convention. 

Before the death of Bishop Moore 
he, too, was obliged by reason of the 
infirmity of age to have an assistant 
bishop consecrated who succeeded 
him, the Rt. Rev. John Henry Hobart, 
whose energetic administration showed 
in 1830, at his death, a clergy list of 
one hundred and twenty-seven. 
Bishop Hobart was an inspiring figure 
in the Church of his day. The sig- 




BISHOP SAMUEL PROVOOST 

Consecrated February 4, 1787; 

died September 6, 1815 

nificant comment of one writer says 
that "the language of Coleridge was 
often his: 'Give me a little zealous 
imprudence,' while there was so much 
method and persistence in his impru- 
dence that it told powerfully upon the 
Church, making his name, as well as 
that of the diocese of New York, a 
tower of strength." 

The episcopate of his successor 
Bishop Onderdonk, brought forward 
the question of the division of the dio- 
cese at the convention held in Utica 
in 1834, but it was not until 1838 that 
the first setting off of territory to form 
a new diocese was accomplished, un- 
der the designation of the Diocese of 
Western New York, having Dr. Will- 
iam H. DeLancey as its first bishop. 
Its first convention had an attendance 




KING'S COLLEGE, NEW YORK, IN 1768 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



of forty-eight clergy and delegates 
from forty parishes. 

The rapid growth of the Church 
from this time on necessitated further 
divisions of territory. Under Bishop 
Horatio Potter, who followed Bishop 
Onderdonk, the new dioceses of 
Albany and Long Island were 
set off, with the Rt. Rev. Will- 
iam Croswell Doane for the first 
bishop of the former and the Rt. 
Rev. Abram N. Littlejohn as first 
bishop of the latter. The diocese of 
Central New York was created out of 
Western New York in 1868, and had 
for its first bishop the Rt. Rev. Fred- 
eric D. Huntington. Since then no 
further subdivision of territory has 
taken place, in spite of the enormous 
increase in the Church throughout the 
State of New York, but coadjutors 
or suffragans have been used to supply 
the exacting demands for episcopal 
supervision and administration. 

IV. Some Foundation Stones 
The passing of the period when 
the diocese and State of New York 
were identical finishes the subject be- 
fore us. To continue the history of 
the Church in the present diocese of 
New York would be to take up a new 
period, inexhaustible in interest and 
importance. It does, however, pertain 
directly to our subject to notice some 
foundation stones in the way of insti- 
tutions, planted during the days of the 
original diocese. 

Out of the needs of the growing 
Church for men trained for the priest- 
hood, arose the foundation of the 
General Theological Seminary in 
1817; consequently it will celebrate its 
centennial next year. The seminary 
is under the supervision of the whole 
Church in the United States, and has 
(with the exception of less than two 
years when it was removed to New 
Haven), always been in the diocese 
of New York. Since 1825 it has oc- 
cupied "Chelsea Square," between 
Ninth and Tenth avenues and Twen- 
tieth and Twenty-first streets, its 



buildings developing from two gray- 
stone buildings in the early days to the 
present nearly completed plan of con- 
tinuous buildings enclosing the Square 
on three sides, and including chapel, 
refectory, library and lecture halls, 
as well as dormitories and houses for 
the dean and professors. In member- 
ship the Seminary has grown from 
two professors and six students to a 
faculty of fifteen instructors and one 
hundred and forty-three students. 
The history of the General Seminary 
is in a large measure an epitome of 
the history of the American Church, 
as well as of the diocese of New York. 

Even earlier than the General Theo- 
logical Seminary, but not so inter- 
woven with the Church life of the 
diocese, is the institution now known 
as Columbia University. This insti- 
tution was chartered in 1754, under 
the signature of James De Lancey, 
lieutenant-governor, by the name of 
King's College. The first money for 
the new college was raised by means 
of a lottery, and the amount was 
placed in the hands of trustees, the 
majority of whom were members of 
the Church of England, several being 
vestrymen of Trinity parish. The lat- 
ter granted land for a building-site on 
condition that the president of the col- 
lege for the time being should be in 
communion with the Church of Eng- 
land, and the morning and evening 
prayers should be those of the Church, 
or else a selection from the Book of 
Common Prayer. After the War of 
Independence, the name of the college 
was changed to Columbia. The loose 
connection technically with the Church 
has continued and to-day the president 
and chaplain must be communicants 
of the Church, and the bishop of the 
diocese and the rector of Trinity par- 
ish are ex-officio members of the 
Board of Trustees. 

Far from the great center of popu- 
lation, at Annandale-on-the-Hudson, 
stands St. Stephen's College, founded 
in 1859, as a training college for the 



39 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 







CHELSEA HOUSE 
The home of Bishop Moore, on a 
hill near what is now 23rd Street 
and Ninth Avenue, in the heart of 
New York. In this house Dr. 
Moore was born and spent his life. 



DR. CLEMENT C. 
MOORE 
Son of the Bishop of 
New York and author 
of the childhood classic 
" 'Twas the Night Be- 
fore Christmas." 



ministry in the diocese of New York. 
The special scope of the institution 
was from the first that of "a Church 
school, leading to the Ministry." It 
has adhered quite closely to this ideal, 
and has had a career of steady useful- 
ness and an intimate connection with 
the Church life of the diocese. Ho- 
bart College, located at Geneva, owed 
its development into an Arts College 
largely to the interest and aid of 
Bishop Hobart and Trinity parish, and 



THE GENERAL THEOLOGICAL 

SEMINARY, NEW YORK 
Built on land which Dr. Moore 
deeded to the Seminary. His por- 
trait hangs in the refectory and 
on Christmas Eve the students twine 
evergreens around it. 

was chartered under its present name 
in 1860. 

One last point of interest, from 
among a multitude which are deserv- 
ing of attention, were our subject not 
confined to origins, is to be found in 
the fact that three of the dioceses in 
the State of New York have estab- 
lished in their see cities cathedral 
buildings of magnificence and beauty. 
Albany with its cathedral dedicated to 
All Saints, Long Island, with the 




THE GENERAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NEW YORK, IN EARLY DAYS 

Erected in 1825, these were the first buildings and remained the only ones until 1883. They are still a 

part of the Seminary. 



How Our Church Carrie to Our Country 



Cathedral of the Incarnation at Gar- 
den City, and, lastly, New York with 
the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 
all indicate that the Church, which 
began in the Fort of the Dutch and 
English colony, has now progressed to 
a stage of fixity, and witnesses un- 
ceasingly to the fulness of the Faith 



once for all delivered to the Saints. 
In two of these three cathedrals the 
daily pleading of the Holy Eucharist 
continually brings before God the 
needs of man, unites our worship with 
that in heaven, and brings down to 
man blessings from on high. Laus 
Deo! 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO 

NEW YORK" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

THERE is a wealth of material regard- 
ing early New York. Any encyclo- 
pedia or general history will supply it. 
Though the Dutch colony became English, 
the influence of Churchmen was for a long 
time negligible. This accounted for the slow 
growth of the Church in the early days. 
The books which will be helpful are "Cen- 
tennial History of the Diocese of New 
York," "The Conquest of the Continent" 
(chapter IT), "Conquerors of the Contin- 
ent" (the chapter on Bishop Hobart), 
"Some Memory Days of the Church," 
"History of the American Episcopal 
Church," by McConnell (Part I, Chapter 
V, XVIII, Part II, Chapter II, VI), a 
"History of Trinity Parish," by Dix. 
THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 
Several methods of approach are possible. 
The first might be to describe Hendrik Hud- 
son and his ship Half Moon sailing up the 
wonderful river to find a route to India. 
Or you might begin by asking what is the 
great city of the nation? and if any of the 
class have been there? Or you may treat 
it as the great gateway through which im- 
migrants enter our country. Show some- 
thing of its location and characteristics. 



TEACHING THE LESSON 

I. The Earliest Days. 

1. Who was the first Churchman to see 
New York? 

2. Where and how were the first Church 
of England services held? 

3. Tell something about Edmund Andros. 

4. How did most of the early settlers feel 
toward the English Church? 

II. The First Priest and Parish. 

1. Tell something about William Vesey. 

2. The founding of Trinity Parish. 

3. How was the parish extended? 

4. How did the Revolution affect the 
Church in New York? 

III. The Church Expanding. 

1. What two obstacles had to be over- 
come? 

2. The securing of the episcopate. 

3. What do you know of Bishop Hobart? 

4. Into what dioceses is New York 
divided? 

IV. Some Foundation Stones. 

1. Tell about the General Theological 
Seminary*. 

2. How is Columbia University related 
to the Church? 

3. What two other Church colleges are 
in New York? 

4. The Cathedrals of New York State. 



* How many know " 'Twas the Night Before 
Christmas"? How many know that it was writ- 
ten by a theological professor, Dr. Clement C. 
Moore, who lived in old "Chelsea House." 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



u 



Hoto <®ux Cfmrrif) Came to ®uv Country 



VI. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO PENNSYLVANIA 
By the Rev. Llewellyn N. Caley, D.D. 



I. The Colonial Church in 
Pennsylvania 

NO diocese in the United States 
has played so important a part 
in the historical development of 
the Episcopal Church in our country 
as that of Pennsylvania. In 1682, 
William Penn, a wealthy and accom- 
plished English Quaker, landed, with 
a large and well-equipped colony from 
England, on the bank of the Delaware 
River and called the town he founded 
"Philadelphia," or Brotherly Love, 
and the great tract of land which the 
King had granted to him he named 
Pennsylvania, or the forest land of 
Penn. Fortunately, he found his land 
occupied 'by Indians of a similar spirit 
to that of his own people ; for the 
Delawares, having been defeated by 
their fierce northern neighbors the 
Iroquois, were not in a fighting mood. 
His own good-will and fair spirit gave 
them confidence, and led to an honor- 
able treaty being signed. Thus Penn's 
colony was spared the period of priva- 
tion and want through which all the 
others had passed, and therefore was 
strong from the start and developed 
rapidly through the constant coming 
of fresh colonists. 

For many years the growth of the 
Church in the colonies was very slow, 
but it spread by degrees through Vir- 
ginia and Maryland to Carolina, Dela- 
ware, and Pennsylvania. In Penn- 
sylvania the Quakers were strongly 
opposed to the Church but according 
to the charter of the colony granted by 
Charles II in 1681, they were obliged 
to permit a church to foe erected if a 
sufficient number signed a request for 



one. At the suggestion of the Right 
Rev. Henry Compton, D.D., Bishop of 
London, it was provided that he should 
have power to appoint a chaplain for 
the service of any congregation con- 
sisting of not less than twenty resi- 
dents who might desire such a min- 
ister. In 1695 the required number of 
devoted laymen met in Philadelphia, 
organized themselves into a congrega- 
tion, appointed a vestry, bought a 
piece of ground, and built Christ 
Church. Within the year the Bishop 
of London sent the Rev. Thomas 
Clayton to take charge of what became 
the mother church of all the churches 
in the Province of Pennsylvania. 

So, in 1695, Christ Church was 
built, and being blessed with good 




BISHOP COMPTON 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



rectors, began to exert so great an in- 
fluence in the community that within 
a few years several hundred were bap- 
tized, and in 1702 there was a congre- 
gation of five hundred persons. 
Among all the buildings in this 
country around which sacred and 
national associations cluster, there is 
none more interesting than Christ 
Church, for it is a cradle of the 
American nation as it is a cradle of the 
American Church. Washington wor- 
shiped there, the first General Con- 
vention of our Church was held there, 
and there the Prayer Book was 
adopted. The present church was 
erected in 1727. 

One of the most interesting features 
with reference to the founding of the 
Church in Pennsylvania was the estab- 
lishing of a li- 
" | ■ brary connected 

, j with Christ 
| Church in 1696. 
\ At the sugges- 
I tion of the Rev. 
Thomas Bray, 
D.D., who was 
\ sent by Bishop 
Compton to look 





CHRIST CHURCH. PHILADELPHIA 



after the Church in the Colonies, a 
" Parochial Library" of three hundred 
volumes was provided by the Church 
in England "for the use of the mis- 
sionaries he should send to America." 
Owing to the missionary enterprise 
of the Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel,- many missions were estab- 
lished -in the neighborhood of Phila- 
delphia, and thus during the first half 
of the eighteenth century the Church 
grew and became fairly strong, both 
in the city and country districts; one 
country church, St. Paul's, Chester, 
was built in 1702. 

When the Continental Congress met 
in Carpenter's Hall in the year 1776, 
it was an Episcopal clergyman, the 
Rev. Jacob Duche, D.D., rector of 
Christ Church and St. Peter's, who 
offered the opening prayer in full 
canonicals; and the Rev. William 
White was its regular chaplain. The 
Church was very prominent in the 
formation of the new government ; the 
Declaration of . Independence was 
drawn up by Thomas Jefferson, a 
member of the Church, and two-thirds 
of those who signed it were Church- 
men$ including such men as Benjamin 
.^„..„ Franklin, Alexander Hamil- 

ton, Patrick Henry, John 
Jay, James Madison, and 
Robert Morris. Also two; 
thirds of those who framed 
the Constitution of the 
United States were members 
of the Church, many of' them 
being resident in Philadel- 
phia. 

Notwithstanding the loy- 
alty of Churchmen to the 
cause of the new nation, no 
religious body was so seri- 
ously affected by the war as 
the Church because many 
of the clergy all of whom 
had been ordained in Eng- 
land, felt that they could not 
loyally support the Revolu- 
tion, and so resigned ' their 
parishes. But the Society for 



431 




THE OPENING SERVICE OF THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 



the Propagation of the Gospel pursued 
the generous policy of continuing the 
stipends of its missionaries dur- 
ing the war. This added very ma- 
terially to the strength of the Church 
when peace was restored. Neverthe- 
less, her condition then was very dis- 
couraging, there being only about a 
hundred clergy in the land. It may 
seem strange that the Church was not 
stronger, having been in the country 
over one hundred and seventy years; 
there were, however, three causes 
which accounted for this : 

(1) The majority of colonists were 
Dissenters. (2) There had been no 
bishops, and therefore no confirmation 
in the Colonial Church. (3) Because 
of the difficulty and danger attending 
the voyage to London for ordination, 
many earnest young men entered the 
ministry of other religious bodies. 

//. The Birth of the American 
Church 
In the year 1784, at the instance of 
the Rev. Dr. White, rector of Christ 
Church and St. Peter's, a meeting was 
held of the clergy and laity of the 
Diocese of Pennsylvania, which was 
then coterminous with the Common- 



wealth of Pennsylvania. This assem- 
bly is noteworthy as in it the laity 
were given the rights and privileges 
of membership, which was a restora- 
tion of the custom of the primitive 
Church. 

At this meeting a series of funda- 
mental principles were set forth, 
which suggested that there should be 
a General Convention of the Episcopal 
Church in the United States, of which 
all the bishops would be members, and 
to which each State should send 
clerical and lay deputies ; and that the 
Church so organized should maintain 
substantially the doctrine, discipline 
and liturgy of the Church of England. 

In September of the next year, 
1785, the first General Convention of 
the American Church was held in 
Christ Church, Philadelphia. There 
were present clerical and lay repre- 
sentatives from Pennsylvania, New 
York, New Jersey, Delaware, Mary- 
land, Virginia, and South Carolina. 
The Rev. Dr. White was chosen 
president, and the Fundamental Prin- 
ciples were adopted. An address was 
also prepared to the English arch- 
bishops, requesting them to consecrate 
such persons as should be recom- 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



mended to them by the Church in 
America. The address to the English 
Church was presented by John 
Adams, the American minister at the 
court of St. James, and the reply of 
the prelates was most encouraging, 
for they recognized the appeal as the 
voice of a national Church. There- 
fore the next year, 1786, at a General 
Convention held in Wilmington, Del., 
the testimonials of the Rev. Dr. White 
of Pennsylvania, the Rev. Dr. 
Provoost of New York and the Rev. 
Dr. Griffiths of Virginia, as recom- 
mended for consecration to the Epis- 
copate, were signed. 

Drs. White and Provoost soon 
sailed for England. Unfortunately, 
Dr. Griffiths was unable to accompany 
them. On reaching London they were 
cordially received by the Archbishop 
of Canterbury and the ecclesiastical 
authorities ; and as an act of Parlia- 
ment had been passed allowing bishops 
to be consecrated without taking the 




Copyright. Underwood & Underwood, New York. 

INDEPENDENCE HALL 



oath of allegiance to the sovereign, 
preparations were made for their con- 
secration. 

This interesting event took place on 
Sunday, February 4, 1787, in the 
chapel of Lambeth Palace, by the 
Archbishops of Canterbury and York, 
assisted by the Bishops of Bath and 
Wells, and of Peterborough. Bishop 
White was consecrated first, and 
therefore he was the first bishop of 
the American Church to receive epis- 
copal orders through the Church of 
England. No American Church- 
man is held in higher esteem than 
Bishop White, and justly so, for his 
moral character, his mental capacity, 
his loyalty to the Church, and his 
labors on her behalf, entitled him to 
stand in the front rank as one of her 
noblest leaders. 

. As Bishops White of Pennsylvania 
and Provoost of New York had been 
consecrated according to the rite of 
the Church of England, at Lambeth, 
in 1787, and Bishop Seabury, of 
Connecticut, according to the rite of 
the Episcopal Church in Scotland in 
Aberdeen in 1784, it seemed for a time 
as if there might be two separate 
Churches in our land ; but at the meet- 
ing of the General Convention, held in 
1789 in Christ Church, Philadelphia, 
Bishop Seabury was received into 
union with the Convention. The pres- 
ent name of the Church was formally 
adopted, and the Prayer Book as 
amended was authorized to be used. 
The most important change in the 
revision was the adoption of the 
Scottish form of the Prayer of Conse- 
cration in the order for the Adminis- 
tration of the Holy Communion. 

It is worthy of note that this Con- 
vention subsequently met in the State 
House, and in the College of Phila- 
delphia — now the University of Penn- 
sylvania — and that the Constitution of 
the Church was finally adopted in the 
same room in Independence Hall in 
which the National Constitution had 
been drawn up. By one the thirteen 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



45 



independent states were declared to 
be one Nation — the United States of 
America ; and by the others the thirteen 
independent diocesan organizations 
became one Church — the 'Protestant 
Episcopal Church in the United States 
of America. Each was based upon a 
written Constitution, drawn up largely 
by the same men; the principles of 
representative government being much 
the same in both. 

i The first church to be organized for 
work among the negroes was St. 
Thomas', Philadelphia, which was 
founded in 1793. 

As Philadelphia was the capital of 
the nation for several years, and the 
Church was well-established there, it 
was natural that it should have played 
an important part in the development 
of the American Church. We call 
attention to some of the most promi- 
nent events. 

///. The Development of the 
American Church 

At the General Convention held in 
St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia, in 
1821, 'the Domestic and Foreign Mis- 
sionary Society was formed, and its 
headquarters remained in that city 
until 1845. When the General Con- 
vention .met in the same church in 
1835, just fifty years after the first 
General Convention, it adjourned to 
St. Andrew's Church, and here mis- 
sionary work at home and abroad re- 
ceived a great impetus, for every bap- 
tized member of the Church was de- 
clared to be a member of the Domestic 
and Foreign Missionary ' Society. 
Thus the Church realized her true 
position as a great missionary organ- 
ization. 

The Church had seen a vision of 
conquest, and thus inspired she de- 
cided to return to primitive practice 
and to send forth missionary bishops. 
And so at this memorable Convention 
the Rev. Jackson Kemper, who for 
twenty years had been the assistant 
minister of the united parishes of 




BISHOP WHITE 

Christ Church, St. Peter's and St. 
James', was made Missionary Bishop 
of the Northwest, being the first mis- 
sionary bishop of our Church. 
No man has'ever done a grander mis- 
sionary work for the American 
Church than he; for during the 
twenty-five years he was a missionary 
bishop there developed six dioceses 
where there had been none, and one 
hundred and seventy-two clergy where 
at first he found two. Also in St. 
Peter's Church, Philadelphia, during 
the Convention of 1844, the Rev. 
William J. Boone, D.D., was conse- 
crated as the first missionary bishop 
for work in a foreign land, and soon 
sailed for China, where he had been 
laboring faithfully for many years. 

Another feature of considerable in- 
terest is the fact that the first Sunday- 
school in the United States was 
started in the year 1814 by Bishop 
White, in connection with Si. John's 
Church, Philadelphia. And at the 
General Convention held in that city 
in 1826 "The General Protestant 
Episcopal Sunday-school Union" was 
formed, which was the beginning of 
real progress being made in the re- 
ligious education of the young. It is 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



not too much to say that America was 
saved to Christianity by the Sunday- 
school, for when it began its benefi- 
cent work, unbelief and error were 
becoming dominant in the land. These 
were stayed, and the young were 
gathered into the Church in large 
numbers. 

The Lenten Offering of the Sun- 
day-schools for Missions, which has 
contributed so much annually for the 
spread of Christ's Kingdom at home 
and abroad, was started by Mr. John 
Marston in one of the suburban 
churches of Philadelphia, in 1877, and 
last year over $186,000 was raised by 
this means. It was also in Philadel- 
phia, at a conference held in the house 
of the well-known Sunday-school 
leader, Mr. George C. Thomas, that 
the first steps were taken in 1909 
which led to the formation of the Gen- 
eral Board of Religious Education. 

At the General Convention held in 
1865 at the close of the Civil War, 
which by a happy coincidence met in 
the City of Brotherly Love, all gath- 
ered in harmony, and united in a serv- 
ice of praise to God for having 
granted "peace to the country and 
unity to the Church," The Christian 
spirit of fraternity thus manifested 
by the Church gained such public re- 
spect and confidence as was not pos- 
sessed by any other religious body, 
and was the means of bringing many 
into the fold. Moreover, a united 




The little church in which the Lenten Offering 
of the Sunday-schools originated. 



Church helped considerably towards 
the realization of a united country. 

It may be of interest to some to 
know that Betsy Ross, who made the 
first Stars and Stripes, was a member 
of Christ Church, Philadelphia; as 
was also Joseph Hopkinson, the 
author of "Hail, Columbia !" 

From this rapid survey we learn 
that in the Diocese of Pennsylvania 
the first General Convention of the 
Church was held; the first Bishop of 
the English succession exercised Epis- 
copal authority ; the American Prayer 
Book was adopted and authorized to 
be used; the Constitution of the 
Church was adopted, thereby forming 
the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
the United States; Church work 
among the negroes was started; the 
Domestic and Foreign Missionary So- 
ciety was formed; every baptized 
member of the Church was declared 
to be a member of the Missionary So- 
ciety; the first missionary bishops of 
the Church were consecrated for the 
home and for the foreign fields ; the 
Church was re-united after the Civil 
War; the first Sunday-school in the 
country was established, and the Len- 
ten Offering for Missions was started. 
Surely this is a record of which any 
diocese may be justly proud and truly 
grateful. 

IV. The Diocese of Pennsyl- 
vania as at Present 

The Diocese of Pennsylvania, which 
originally included the whole state, 
has within the last half century been 
divided into five dioceses. In 1865 
the western part of the Common- 
wealth was organized under the name 
of the "Diocese of Pittsburgh," which 
now has a population of over two mil- 
lions, including the busy city of 
Pittsburgh, the great center of the 
steel industry, with 63 clergy and 
15,724 communicants. In 1871 a third 
diocese was formed in the middle of 
the state, and was called "Central 







WASHINGTON MEMORIAL CHAPEL, VALLEY FORGE 



Pennsylvania; but in 1904 this was 
divided into two dioceses known as 
"Bethlehem," which has 77 clergy, 
and 15,960 communicants, and "Har- 
risburg," which reports 75 clergy and 
10,902 communicants. In 1910 the 
Diocese of "Erie" was formed of the 
then northern part of the Diocese of 
Pittsburgh, and this "baby diocese" 
of the state reports 30 clergy and 
8,670 communicants ; while the 
"mother diocese," which still retains 
the name of "Pennsylvania" — though 
it includes but five counties at the ex- 
treme eastern end of the Common- 
wealth — reports 304 clergy and 61,589 
communicants. 

Thus where in 1702 there was one 
Church with five hundred members, 
to-day there are five hundred and 
forty-nine clergy ministering to over 
a hundred and two thousand com- 
municants. But as the state has a 
population of about seven millions, 
amongst whom the Bible was dis- 
tributed last year in fifty-one different 
languages and dialects, it can easily 
be seen that there is still much oppor- 
tunity for splendid missionary work 
to be done. Throughout our foreign 



missions we are sending the Gospel to 
the ends of the earth; for our home 
missions God is sending the ends of 
the earth to us ; and nowhere is this 
so marked as in the great manufactur- 
ing and mining State of Pennsylvania. 

In the Diocese of Pennsylvania as at 
present constituted there is a popula- 
tion of two millions and a half, about 
a quarter of whom are foreigners, and 
in addition there are a hundred thou- 
sand negroes. Among these various 
races the Church is doing what she 
can, especially among the Italians and 
the Jews ; while her work among the 
negroes is conceded to be the largest 
and most hopeful carried on in any 
section of the United States. There 
is a special mission for the sailors who 
frequent the port of Philadelphia in 
large numbers, and an effort is made 
to reach the immigrants who land 
there by thousands every year. We 
ought also to refer to a very interest- 
ing enterprise which is partly mission- 
ary, because ministering in a rural 
district, and largely patriotic: namely, 
the noble group of Church buildings 
which are being erected at Valley 
Forge to commemorate the memorable 



Class Work on "How Our Church Came to Pennsylvania" 



fact that the first President of our 
Nation was a Churchman — the Wash- 
ington Memorial Chapel at Valley 
Forge. It is hoped that every diocese 
in our Church will be represented in 
this enterprise, which, when com- 
pleted will be one of the finest and 
most notable, as well as most ap- 



propriate memorials in the country. 
Thus in many ways of active and 
aggressive service the old Diocese of 
Pennsylvania is seeking to fulfil its 
motto, and for our own great land at 
home and for the missionary fields 
abroad, to "Let Brotherly Love Con- 
tinue." 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO 
PENNSYLVANIA" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON II. The Birth of the American Church. 



CHURCH and State were so intimately- 
connected in the early annals of the 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that 
any good history, either of our country or 
our Church, will be found useful. We 
would also recommend "The Early Clergy 
of Pennsylvania," Hotchkin. 



THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

The recent journey of the Liberty Bell 
from its home in Independence Hall, Phila- 
delphia, to the San Francisco Exposition 
and back, will be a good point of contact. 
Some of your class may have seen the bell 
on its journey. Call their attention to the 
fact that the constitution of our Church 
was adopted in the same room in Inde- 
pendence Hall in which the constitution of 
our country was framed. Ask them if they 
know that the first "Old Glory" that was 
ever seen was made by a Church-woman, 
and that a Churchman was the author of 
"Hail, Columbia?" The first Sunday-school 
in the United States was held in Philadel- 
phia in 1814 and the Lenten Offering of the 
Sunday-schools originated in a small 
church near Philadelphia, nearly forty years 
ago. 



TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. The Colonial Church in Pennsylvania. 

1. What led to the building of Christ 
Church, Philadelphia? 

2. What led to the growth of the Church 
in the neighborhood of Philadelphia? 

3. Tell of the prominent part the Church 
took in the birth of the American na- 
tion. 

4. What made the Church so weak when 
Independence was declared? 



1. Give a brief account of the first Gen- 
eral Convention of the Church. 

2. Who were the first bishops of the Eng- 
lish succession in the American Church? 

3. What were the important features of 
the General Convention held in 1789? 

4. What memorable event of this Conven- 
tion took place in Independence Hall? 



III. The Development of the American 
Church. 

1. Mention four events of great im- 
portance in the missionary work of the 
Church, in 1821, 1835 and 1844. 

2. What part did the Diocese of Pennsyl- 
vania play with reference to Sunday- 
schools ? 

3. Where was the Lenten Offering for 
Missions started? 

4. What very important event took place 
at the General Convention held in 
Philadelphia in 1865? 

IV. The Diocese of Pennsylvania as at 
Present. 

1. How many dioceses are there now in 
the State of Pennsylvania? 

2. What are they, and when were they 
organized? 

3. What is one of the striking features of 
life in the State of Pennsylvania that 
offers such a splendid field for mis- 
sionary effort? 

4. Mention some of the missionary work 
which is being carried on in the Dio- 
cese of Pennsylvania at the present 
time. 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



49 



itoto ®ut Cfjurci) Came to <0ur Country 



VII. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO NEW JERSEY 



/. Beginnings in New Jersey 

SOME may wonder why New 
Jersey is chosen as the subject 
of one of these articles. Yet it 
is something more than the front door 
of Philadelphia and the back door of 
New York. From a Church point of 
view it has an interesting history. 

Naturally, the "middle counties," 
or "East and West Jersey," as they 
were afterwards called, were at first 
sparsely settled. Not until the settle- 
ments on the Hudson and the Schuyl- 
kill had established themselves did the 
colonists begin to seek the intervening 
country. The Province of East Jer- 
sey — the northern part of the present 
state — had in the year 1700 some ten 
towns, counting altogether perhaps 
8,000 souls. At Elizabeth, Newark 
and Amboy there were a few Church- 
men, and an occasional Prayer-Book 
service was held in other places, but 
as yet no clergyman of the Church 
was settled in either East or West 
Jersey. 

At first New Jersey was the home 
of the Quakers. George Fox himself 
selected it for that purpose during a 
visit which he made as early as 1673. 
After going up and down the coast he 
returned home and organized a col- 
ony of Friends, whose agents bought 
for $5,000 the western half of south- 
ern Jersey. Two years later the first 
ship landed settlers at Salem, on the 
Delaware below Wilmington. From 
this point other colonies were estab- 
lished, and southern Jersey became a 
Quaker stronghold. 

Strangely enough it was from the 
Quakers that the first strong impulse 
of the Church in New Jersey was 



received. George Keith, of the Salem 
colony, had been a Scotch Presby- 
terian and was a graduate of the Uni- 
versity of Aberdeen. He was won 
over from Presbyterianism to the doc- 
trines of Fox and became a marked 
man among the Quakers. In addition 
to a thorough education, he possessed 
energy and versatility, and a keen rel- 
ish for debate. Wherever he went he 
became a leader. From Salem he was 
invited to Philadelphia to be head- 
master of the Friends' school. Before 
long, however, he found himself dis- 
satisfied with Quakerism. It seemed 
to him verging toward the Unitarian 
doctrine, and he vigorously opposed 
the tendency. The ranks of the 
Quakers divided, many of them fol- 
lowing Keith and calling themselves 
"Christian Quakers." Keith returned 




REV. GEORGE KEITH 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



to England in 1694, and asked to be 
received into the English Church. He 
afterward offered himself for the 
ministry and was ordained by the 
Bishop of London in 1700, becoming 
the first appointed missionary of the 
newly founded Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Gospel. 

He held his first service as a mis- 
sion priest of the Church of England 
at Amboy, N. J., on October 4th, 




JOHN TALBOT 

Founder of this Church 1703- 




A •*■«■ im 



"it 



BISHOP 

By Nonjuror Consecration 1722 
Died in Burlington Nov. 29 th 1727 

!:, Beloved and Lamented 





THE TALBOT MEMORIAL TABLET 

7 his tablet was placed in St. Mary's Church, 
Burlington, in the rectorship of the Rev. Dr. 
George Morgan Hills, who firmly believed that the 
Rev. John Talbot received episcopal consecration 



1702, after which he preached in 
Freehold, Middletown and Shrews- 
bury. In company with the Rev. John 
Talbot, he preached in the "Town 
House" at Burlington, on All Saints' 
Day, November 1, 1/02. "We had," 
he said, "an Auditory of divers sorts, 
some of the Church and some of the 
later Converts from Quakerism." 
Through his efforts at this time the 
project of building a church was un- 
dertaken, the ground being broken on 
the Feast of the Annunciation, 1703, 
from which circumstance the parish 
received its name. In August of the 
same year Keith makes formal 
record: "I preached in the new 
church at Burlington. My Lord 
Cornbury was present and many 
Gentlemen who accompanied him, 
both from New York and the two 
Jerseys, having had his commission 
to be Governor of West and East Jer- 
sey." Thus began St. Mary's Church, 
Burlington, a strong center in the 
early days, and one of the hallowed 
shrines of Church life in this country. 

The Rev. John Talbot, who was the 
companion of Keith on his remark- 
able missionary journey, which ex- 
tended from Massachusetts to South- 
ern Virginia, became the missionary 
of the S. P. G. in East and West 
Jersey, making his headquarters at 
Burlington, where he had been form- 
ally appointed rector of the parish. 
Afterwards we find the Rev. John 
Brooke settled at Elizabeth Town, 
visiting Rahway, Perth Amboy, 
Cheesequakes, Piscataway, Rocky 
Hill and Freehold — a cure fifty miles 
in length. 

From the very beginning the need 
for the episcopate was keenly felt, and 
in 1705 a convention of fourteen 
clergymen (from New York, New 
Jersey and Pennsylvania) met at 
Burlington to petition for the appoint- 
ment of a bishop-suffragan. John 
Talbot himself later went to England, 
largely to urge this request, and there 
is a tradition that, receiving no en- 



51 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



couragement from the constituted 
authorities, he later sought consecra- 
tion and received it from certain 
bishops who had an irregular suc- 
cession from the nonjuring bishops, 
and was thus the first man in episco- 
pal orders in America, though he 
never exercised his episcopate. The 
assertion that he was consecrated a 
bishop has never been so satisfactor- 
ily established as to remove all ques- 
tion. In 1715 a bill was introduced 
into Parliament establishing the Co- 
lonial Episcopate, and designating 
Burlington as one of the four sees. 
The death of Queen Anne, however, 
removed the chief support and the 
plan did not prevail; had it done so, 
New Jersey would have wrested from 
Connecticut the honor of having the 
first bishop of our Church. 

A meeting of the clergy of New 
York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 
preliminary to the organization of the 
Church in General Convention, was 
held in Christ Church, New Bruns- 
wick, on the 13th and 14th of May, 
1784. In this church both Bishops 
Seabury and Hobart ministered be- 
fore their consecration. 

77. The First Bishop of New 
Jersey 

We must now tell the story of New 
Jersey's first bishop, who was conse- 
crated just a hundred years after the 
proposal above mentioned. John 
Croes was born in Elizabeth Town in 
1762. He received his early educa- 
tion in Newark, to which his family 
soon removed. His father was a 
baker and unable to give his son the 
liberal education which he craved, but 
by his own efforts he had made much 
preparation for the ministry, which 
was the goal of his ambition, when 
the Revolutionary War broke out. At 
the age of sixteen he entered the 
army, rising to the position of ser- 
geant-major. At the age of twenty- 
two, when the war closed, he turned 
again to the ministry, working as a 



teacher to procure his support mean- 
while, and in 1790 he was ordained 
deacon by Bishop White. He became 
rector of Swedesboro, and from there 
was called to Christ Church, New 
Brunswick, where, in addition to his 
pastoral work, he took charge of the 
Classical Academy — all that remained 
of what had been Queen's College and 
is now Rutgers. Both church and 
school flourished under his care, the 
latter enjoying a high reputation 
throughout the state. 

He was elected Bishop of New Jer- 
sey in St. Michael's Church, Trenton, 
August 30, 1815, with a unanimity 
which proved the high estimate in 
which he was held and the deep con- 
viction which his ministry of twenty 
years had produced that he was quali- 
fied for this high office. He was con- 
secrated in St. Peter's Church, Phila- 
delphia, by Bishop White, assisted by 
Bishops Hobart and Kemp. A lay- 
man, in a letter written at that time, 
describes him as follows : "Bishop 
Croes was in stature about six feet, 
and of a portly frame. His dress and 
mien gave him that staid and vener- 




THE RIGHT REV. JOHN CROES, D.D. 
The First Bishop of New Jersey 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



able appearance that one may often 
see represented in the pictures of the 
Addison age, and that well correspond 
with the sanctity and native simplicity 
of his character. His sermons were 
remarkably adapted to the age, char- 
acter and circumstances of his audi- 
tors, and if it were not their own fault 
they would always find themselves 
benefited by his discourses." 

Like many of his contemporaries, 
Bishop Croes was compelled to re- 
main as rector of the New Brunswick 
parish because the diocese had no 
episcopal fund for his support. Fur- 
thermore, the scarcity of clergy made 
it necessary that bishops should gen- 
erally add to their diocesan responsi- 
bilities a parochial charge. He there- 
fore retained the New Brunswick 
rectorship until his death in 1832. 

The Rev. Dr. Baker, of Princeton, in 
a memorial sermon recently preached, 
says of him: "We owe a debt of 
gratitude to him. He was the first to 
make trial of the adaptiveness of the 
episcopate to the needs of our people ; 
the first to show how a bishop should 
behave himself among communities 
which were greatly prejudiced against 
him as being an aristocratic and pom- 
pous official of a state-bound Church. 
He had no trodden paths to guide 
him ; he had to hew his own way as a 
pioneer and met with many diffi- 
culties, yet his firm but conciliatory 
advocacy of the Church's principles 
found favor through the purity, sim- 
plicity and devotion of his life. . . . 
He was not restrained from active 
labor by the infirmities of age, and he 
went down gradually and gently to 
his grave, leaving as a legacy to his 
family, his diocese and the world a 
character pre-eminently honest, just, 
pure, lovely and of good report." 

///. New Jersey's Second Bishop 

Prominent among the honored 
names of the American episcopate is 
fhat of George Washington Doane, 
who was the second bishop of New 



Jersey. Brilliant, versatile, of com- 
manding presence and gifted with the 
powers of leadership, he held the eye 
of the Church for a generation, and 
was conspicuous in all the great 
movements of his day. Following 
upon the quiet, patient, self-denying 
episcopate of Bishop Croes, he brought 
New Jersey into the limelight, and 
Burlington, his see city, became a cen- 
ter of influence. 

Bishop Doane was a native of New 
Jersey, having been born in Trenton 
in 1799. He graduated at Union 
College and was ordained by Bishop 
Hobart in 1821. Seven years later he 
became assistant at Trinity Church, 
Boston, and soon afterwards its 
rector. It was while holding this im- 
portant place that he was called to the 
episcopate of New Jersey. Only a 
sense of the overwhelming responsi- 
bility of this office compelled his de- 
cision. Much to the regret of his 
Boston friends, he accepted his elec- 
tion. One obstacle was the inade- 
quate provision for the support of a 
bishop. It was represented to him 
that in going to New Jersey he would 
have to "take out his salary in water- 
melons and sweet potatoes" ; even 
these, he later playfully alleged, some- 
times failed him, but he was not the 
man to shrink from any sacrifice 
when duty called. On October 31, 
1832, at St. Paul's Chapel, New York, 
he was consecrated. In the following 
year occurred the death of the aged 
rector of St. Mary's Church, Burling- 
ton, and Bishop Doane accepted the 
rectorship of this important parish, 
which he retained until his death. 

Under his leadership St. Mary's 
parish became a model for the Amer- 
ican Church. The church was en- 
larged, and afterward an entirely new 
structure was built, the old church re- 
maining in use as a parish house. 
Every department of the parish life 
was stimulated and strengthened. 
Always a scholar and teacher, Bishop 
Doane directed his attention to the 



5 




ST. MARY'S CHURCH, BURLINGTON. N. J. 



Sunday-school and parish school, and 
afterwards to the establishment of 
St. Mary's Hall for girls and Burling- 
ton College for boys. To these he 
gave time and strength unwearyingly. 
That which he was doing in the 
parish he was also promoting in the 
diocese, and every department of ac- 
tivity felt the effect of his magnetic 
touch. He was a clear thinker, a pol- 
ished writer, a telling preacher and a 
graceful poet. Once, when exposed 
to a rainfall, a companion who was 
sharing the experience with him, said, 
"Well, Bishop, when you get into the 
pulpit you will be dry enough." But 
the statement was incorrect; his ser- 
mons were never dry. Not only in his 
own country, but in England, also, his 
ability as a preacher was recognized, 
for when the legal ban was removed 
which prevented our bishops from 
preaching in English churches, he was 
summoned across the ocean for that 



purpose, and was the first one of 
many American bishops to stand in 
the pulpits of the Mother Church. 

His faithfulness and zeal were 
everywhere conspicuous. He could 
not bear to fail in any particular. 




THE RIGHT REV. GEORGE WASHINGTON 

DOANE, D.D. 

Second Bishop of New Jersey 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



An appointment made must always be 
kept. In this connection it is told of 
him that on one occasion he visited 
New York seeking pecuniary aid for 
St. Mary's Hall, which was just being 
established. He was detained until 
late on Saturday, and had made no 
provision for supplying the church in 
Burlington the following day. Never- 
theless, as the last passenger train was 
about to leave, he met a friend who 
wished to know about his new enter- 
prise, and the bishop permitted the 
train to go without him, counting 
upon a freight train which he knew 
arrived at Burlington some time in 
the early morning, and which he sup- 
posed carried a passenger car. Hurry- 
ing to the station at the close of his 
conference, he found the freight train 
about to leave, but there was no ac- 
commodation for passengers, and his 
application for a ticket was peremp- 
torily refused. "Very well," said he 
to the agent, "you carry freight, don't 
you?" Upon receiving an affirmative 
reply, he insisted on being weighed 
and forwarded to Burlington in a 
freight car, which, in pursuance of 
orders, had to be locked. When the 
train reached Burlington the follow- 
ing morning the conductor told the 
local agent that he had in one of the 
cars "freight the like of which you 
never heard of before." When the 
car door was opened, this article of 
freight shipped by the Camden and 
Amboy Railroad as "live stock," 
walked to the episcopal residence to 
prepare for the services of the day. 

The contribution of Bishop Doane 
to the life of the general Church was 
also a remarkable one. He was an 
ardent missionary and the acknowl- 
edged leader of what was then known 
as the "High Church Party." He 
took a conspicuous share in the Con- 
vention of 1835, held in St. Peter's 
Church, Philadelphia, which declared 
the whole Church to be the mission- 
ary society, established the missionary 
districts and elected the first mission- 



ary bishop — Jackson Kemper. It was 
Bishop Doane who preached the ser- 
mon at the consecration of Bishop 
Kemper, and who voiced a trumpet- 
call to the Church in these words : 
"Open your eyes to the wants, open 
your ears to the cry, open your hands 
for the relief, of a perishing world. 
Send the Gospel. Send it, as you 
have received it, in the Church. Send 
out, to preach the Gospel, and to build 
the Church — to every portion of your 
own broad land, to every stronghold 
of the prince of hell, to every den and 
nook and lurking place of heathen- 
dom — a missionary bishop !" 

The years of Bishop Doane's epis- 
copate covered a trying and critical 
period in the history of the Church, 
and he, together with many others, 
suffered difficulty and trouble. The 
clash of parties was strong; the Ox- 
ford Movement caused great search- 
ings of heart and the defection of 
Newman and Manning shook the 
faith of many. Among others, Bishop 
Doane's elder son, just ordained to 
the diaconate, renounced his ministry 
and entered the Roman Church. 
These and other griefs and trials 
crowded upon him, but with coura- 
geous patience he bore them all. Up 
to the very end he went about his 
work. Passion Sunday, 1859, found 
him in the midst of a long list of 
visitations, but he had reached the 
limit of his strength. At Christ 
Church, Red Bank, on that day, he 
preached his last sermon. Called 
home by the death of an old friend, 
he planned to resume his visitations, 
but found it impossible. Day by day 
he hoped to get back to his work, but 
the end come, and on the Wednesday 
after Easter this splendid prelate, 
with the trustfulness of a little child, 
rested from his labors. 

IV. The Later Days 

The story of the Church in New 
Jersey has thus far been gathered 
around three personalities. Others, 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



55 



strong and gracious, might be equally 
emphasized did space permit. We 
can only make brief mention of 
Bishop W. H. Odenheimer, who suc- 
ceeded Bishop Doane — a man of fine 
spirit and admirable ability, and a 
scholar of excellent parts. During his 





BISHOP SCARBOROUGH 

episcopate, in the year 1874, New Jer- 
sey was divided and the Diocese of 
Newark set off. Bishop Odenheimer, 
because of the infirmities of age, chose 
to become bishop of this smaller dio- 
cese. For the southern portion, which 
retained the title of New Jersey, 
Bishop Scarborough was chosen. 
Under his leadership, and that of 
Bishop Starkey, who succeeded 



TRINITY CHURCH, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY 

This parish was founded by the S. P. G. Portions of this building represent the oldest church 

architecture in New Jersey 



I 56 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



Bishop Odenheimer in Newark, the 
Church in New Jersey went rapidly 
forward. 

In the diocese of Newark particu- 
larly the events of recent years and 
the rapid growth of New York City 
have made tremendous changes. A 
considerable portion of the men and 
women who work by day in New 
York City have their homes in the 
Diocese of Newark. Large industries 
have also grown up in the territory 
adjacent to the great metropolis, and 
the old New Jersey, a place of coun- 
try homes and rural populations, has 
become urban and cosmopolitan. 
Most of the problems of the great 
cities, as well as of scattered country 
places, press upon her. The Church 



has need to put forth all her energy 
to cope with the task presented here. 

In the two dioceses which cover 
this state there are now some 300 
clergy, ministering to 65,000 com- 
municants; the Sunday-schools have 
35,000 teachers and scholars. 

The Diocese of Newark is admin- 
istered by Bishop Lines, who was 
elected at the death of Bishop 
Starkey in 1903, and who has as his 
Suffragan, Bishop Steady, chosen in 
1915. Bishop Scarborough of New 
Jersey died in 1914, honored and be- 
loved, in the fortieth year of his epis- 
copate, and was succeeded by the Rev. 
Paul Matthews, who was consecrated 
as fifth bishop of New Jersey on Janu- 
ary 25, 1915. 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO 

NEW JERSEY" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

As was the case with last month's les- 
son on Pennsylvania, any good history, 
either of our country or our Church, 
will supply material. "The History of 
St. Mary's Church, Burlington," by the 
Rev. George Morgan Hills. D.D., con- 
tains much interesting information on 
the early days of the Church in New 
Jersey. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Inquire from your children who 
Woodrow Wilson is, and where he came 
from; or, ask them to turn to the 253rd 
hymn in the Hymnal and inquire how 
they like it and what they think it means. 
Ask them who wrote it and explain that 
it was George Washington Doane, sec- 
ond bishop of New Jersey, and that it 
was written for a flag-raising at his boys' 
school in Burlington. 

Find out what they know about New 
Jersey. Get them to locate it in a gen- 
eral way geographically. Show how it 
was naturally related to the growth both 
of New York and Philadelphia. 

I. Beginnings in New Jersey. 

1. What religious sect first founded an 
important colony in New Jersey? 

2. How was the Church indirectly 
benefited thereby? 

3. Tell something about George Keith. 

4. What do you know of John Talbot? 



5. What were the first plans for a 
bishop in America? 

II. The First Bishop of New Jersey. 

1. Who was John Croes? 

2. Describe his early experiences. 

3. Tell what he did for New Jersey. 

III. The Second Bishop of New Jersey. 

1. Who was the second bishop of New 
Jersey?* 

2. Tell something about St. Mary's 
Church, Burlington. 

3. Give an example of Bishop Doane's 
perseverance. 

4. What service did he render to the 
missionary cause? 

IV. The Later Days. 

1. When was New Jersey divided and 
what are the names of the two dio- 
ceses? 

2. Tell some characteristics of the Dio- 
cese of Newark. 

3. What is the strength of the Church 
in the State of New Jersey? 

4. Name at least four other bishops 
who have had jurisdiction in New 
Jersey. 



* Explain to your children that there are two 
Bishops Doane — George Washington Doane, sec- 
ond bishop of New Jersey, and his son, William 
Croswell Doane, first bishop of Albany. Of this 
latter the children may have heard. Both were 
conspicuous men in the Church, and both were 
poets and scholars. 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



57 




VIII. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO OHIO 

By Elizabeth Matthews 



I. The Beginnings 

THE War of Independence was 
succeeded in Ohio by a series of 
Indian uprisings which were 
only quelled by General Anthony 
Wayne's campaign in 1793-95, and it 
was not till 1796 that the British 
finally evacuated their northern forts. 
General Wayne's victory, however, 
was followed by a steady tide of im- 
migration from the Eastern States and 
this rapid growth led to the establish- 
ment of the organized territorial gov- 
ernment in 1799, and to the admission 
of the State into the Union in 1803. 
There had been Churchmen in the 
territory in early times. The first Ohio 
Company, chartered by George II., 
sent a party of exploration down the 
Ohio River in 1750 under Christopher 
Gist, who had studied for the priest- 
hood in England but had taken up 
surveying. Gist in his diary tells of 
his celebration of Christmas Day, 
when he held a service which was not 
only attended by the white men 
in the neighborhood but by several 
of the well-disposed Indians, who 
begged him to remain among them and 
instruct them in the Christian faith. 
This was probably the first religious 
service not of the Roman Catholic 
faith ever held in the present State of 
Ohio, but the promise made the In- 
dians by Gist that "proper ministers 
of the Gospel should be sent them" 
was never fulfilled. George Washing- 
ton conducted a party down the Ohio 
in 1770, but we do not hear of his 
holding services, although he was in 
the habit of carrying his prayer book 



with him and more than once acted as 
lay-reader. 

But the history of the Church in 
Ohio begins with the name of Dr. 
Joseph Doddridge. To his loyalty and 
devotion, to his patience and determin- 
ation, and that of others like-minded, 
we owe the fact that isolated scattered 
efforts were conserved and the Church 
planted on a firm foundation. Joseph 
Doddridge was born in 1769 of a fam- 
ily who were members of the Church 
of England but identified with the 
Wesleyan societies not as yet sep- 
arated from the Church. From Eng- 
land they had emigrated to a spot in 
Pennsylvania only a few miles from 
the Ohio River. Joseph became for a 
time an itinerant preacher in the Wes- 
leyan Society, but on his father's death 
in 1791 he entered the Jefferson 
Academy at Cannonsburg, Pa., where 
he remained but a year, yet it was a 
momentous year for him and for the 
American Church. Just what pro- 
voked his determination to seek ordi- 
nation in the Church we have not been 




BISHOP CHASE'S OHIO HOME 



s 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



told. It must have been due in part 
to his familiarity with the prayer book, 
which even during his itinerant minis- 
try he had used freely, and we know 
that he was wont to lay stress on the 
necessity of an Apostolic ministry. 
Suffice it to say that he became a 
deacon in 1792 and was ever a faithful 
son of the Church. 

While still a deacon, Dr. Doddridge 
held services in Steubenville ; in 1796 
there were regular monthly services, 
though the place at that time consisted 
of but a few log cabins and a portion 
of Fort Steuben; the Doddridge fam- 
ily themselves living across the river 
at Wellsburg. Late in 1799 Dod- 
dridge again went East for the pur- 
pose of obtaining priest's orders, and 
in March, 1800, was admitted to the 
priesthood by Bishop White. At the 
same time he took a course in medi- 
cine with the double purpose of in- 
creasing his usefulness to his scat- 
tered flock and adding to his income 
as a clergyman, always meager arid 
uncertain. On his return to the Ohio 
border he was incessant in his labors 
for the Church. Of the ten parishes 
represented in the first annual conven- 
tion of the Ohio diocese four had been 
organized by Dr. Doddridge, while he 
practiced medicine and looked after 
his Virginia missions as well. 

The pioneers in Ohio were accus- 
tomed to the necessity of pursuing 
many trades. In 1803 Worthington — 
now a small village nine miles north 
of Columbus, but once within one vote 
of being made capital of the state — 
was settled by a handful of Connecti- 
cut Churchmen who had organized 
what was known as the Scioto Com- 
pany. Their leader was James Kil- 
bourn, who had taken deacon's orders 
in Connecticut. He was the second 
clergyman in the State, though never 
elevated to the priesthood. While most 
of his life was spent in many varied 
secular pursuits, he maintained serv- 
ices at Worthington (organized as a 
parish in February, 1804, the first in 



the State), till the coming of Phil- 
ander Chase in 1817, and afterward 
sat in the diocesan convention as a 
clergyman. 

It had early been apparent to Dr. 
Doddridge that the work in Ohio 
would never prosper without epis- 
copal supervision. The Church must 
be fully organized. The scattered 
congregations were only in theory 
Episcopal ; in practice they were Pres- 
byterian or Congregational. So he 
bent all his energies to obtaining a 
bishop, but the Church at large had 
little idea of missionary bishops and 
the first memorial on the subject, sent 
in 1810 to Bishop White to be pre- 
sented to the General Convention, was 
ignored. Dr. Doddridge did not even 
learn of its fate for eighteen months. 
He writes later to Bishop White re- 
garding this disappointment : 

The issue of the business blasted our 
hopes. From that time our intercourse with 
each other became less frequent than it 
had ever been before; our ecclesiastical af- 
fairs fell into a state of languor, and one of 
our clergymen, wearied with disappointment 
and seeing no prospect of any event favora- 
ble to the prosperity of the Church, relin- 
quished the ministry. I kept my station, 
cheerless as it was, without hope of doing 
anything beyond keeping together a few of 
my parishioners during my own lifetime, 
after which I supposed they and their de- 
scendants must attach themselves to such 
societies as they might think best. Such 
was the gloomy and unpleasant prospect be- 
fore me. How often during these years 
of hopeless despondency and discouragement 
have I said to myself, "Is there not a single 
clergyman of my profession of a zealous 
and faithful spirit — is there not one of our 
bishops possessed of zeal and hardihood 
enough to induce him to cross the Alleghany 
Mountains and engage in this laudable 
work?" Year after year you answered 
these questions in the negative. 

However, he did not allow his failure 
to secure additional helpers to para- 
lyze his own efforts, and in the suc- 
ceeding eight years in "his journeys 
often" he practically covered one- 
fourth of the entire State, when 
the best roads were but trails, and his 
saddle horse his only conveyance. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



59 



77. Philander Chase 

In the fall of 1816 a meeting of the 
two clergymen and a few laymen was 
held in Worthington to make applica- 
tion to the General Convention of 1817 
for the appointment of a bishop. To 
enforce this appeal Dr. Doddridge 
wrote Bishop Hobart explaining con- 
ditions and closing his letter by ''beg- 
ging his Rt. Rev. Brother speedily and 
fully to communicate to him his re- 
marks on the course they had taken" 
— but to these memorials no direct re- 
ply was received, and the first infor- 
mation as to any action by the Gen- 
eral Convention was contained in a 
letter written by the Rev. Roger 
Searle dated Plymouth, Conn., August 
4, 1817. It was Mr. Searle who the 
winter before had organized St. 
Peter's parish, Ashtabula; Trinity, 
Cleveland; St. Luke's, Ravenna; and 
St. James, Boardman. His letter con- 
veyed the welcome news that accord- 
ing to the directions of the General 
Convention, the preliminary conven- 
tion to organize the diocese of Ohio 
should assemble at Worthington on 
January 5, 1818. This was done and 
a constitution adopted by which the 
first annual convention assembled in 
the same town on the following third 
of June. The main business before 
the convention was the election of a 
bishop. Of the four clerical votes, 
three were cast for Mr. Chase and one 
for Dr. Doddridge. This action was 
unanimously confirmed by the lay 
vote. 

They could hardly have chosen bet- 
ter. The new bishop was a most in- 
teresting character and eminently 
fitted for his difficult task. Philander 
Chase had been born in 1775. His 
father, Dudley Chase, lived in Cor- 
nish, N. H., and had a family of fif- 
teen children, Philander being the 
youngest ; he was originally destined 
by his family for the Congregational 
ministry, but in 1792 a prayer book 
happened to fall into his hands, and 



the beauty and dignity of the liturgy 
first attracted him and then led him 
to look into the the claims of the 
Church, and finally led to the conver- 
sion of the whole family. Ohio 
Churchmen, even more than others, 
owe a debt of gratitude to the Book 
of Common Prayer. Hence Phil- 
ander Chase upon graduating from 
Dartmouth studied under an English 
clergyman in Albany, and was or- 
dained to the diaconate on May 10, 
1798, in St. George's Chapel, Trinity 
Church, New York. After a varied 
ministry in the diocese of New York 
and six years in New Orleans he was 
called to the rectorship of Christ 
Church, Hartford, Conn. It must have 
been a great sacrifice for him and his 
family to leave this parish in 1817, 
probably in response to an appeal from 
Mr. Kilbourn, to go out to Worthing- 
ton, where upon his arrival he be- 
came rector, also taking charge of 
Trinity, Columbus, and St. Peter's, 
Delaware; besides which he was ap- 




PHILANDER CHASE IN YOUNG MANHOOD 



5(vU 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



pointed principal of the Worthington 
Academy. 

Upon Mr. Chase's election as bishop 
he went to Philadelphia for his conse- 
cration, which took place at St. James' 
Church in February, 1819. It was dur- 
ing his first episcopal visitation that 
he organized the parish of St. Paul's 
in Steubenville — which parish shortly 
after called his nephew, Intrepid 
Morse, as rector, half of his time 
being given to Zanesville, 100 miles 
away. Another of Dr. Doddridge's 
missions, nine miles from Steubenville 
at Cross Creek, had erected a church 
which was ready for use on the occa- 
sion of Bishop Chase's visit in May, 
1819, when twenty-two persons were 
confirmed. Dr. Doddridge remained 
in charge of this mission. For a time 
the clergy in the diocese were aug- 
mented by the bishop's son, who, never 
strong, yet ministered in many sepa- 
rate localities, as did the Rev. Intrepid 
Morse. To meet the many demands 
made on them, these men had to spend 
the greater part of their lives in the 
saddle, for among the 600,000 to 
which the population of Ohio had 
grown, were many Churchmen, widely 
scattered it is true, but loyal and de- 
voted. The children of these men 
were growing up without the Church, 
and many were permanently lost to 
Her fold from the lack of shepherd- 
ing. It was the impossibility of get- 
ting enough men from the East to 
cope with the situation that led Bishop 
Chase to found Kenyon College. 

777. Kenyon College 

It was a bold scheme; but nothing 
venture, nothing have ! The situa- 
tion was becoming desperate. If 
clergmen could not be gotten from 
the East, then Ohio must supply her 
own clergy and educate them. For 
many reasons it would not be possi- 
ble to send candidates East; the 
journey was long, difficult and ex- 
pensive, and there was no surety of 
their returning to the field or of be- 



ing properly fitted for such arduous 
duties as would await them on their 
return. Bishop Chase was a born 
teacher. There being no salary at- 
tached to the episcopal office he had 
accepted the presidency of the Cin- 
cinnati College to eke out his salary 
as rector of St. John's, Worthington. 
The real difficulty was to find the 
money to build a college and theo- 
logical seminary in the wilds of 
Ohio. 

There was little hope of finding it 
in the East. The Church there was 
endeavoring to establish the General 
Theological Seminary in New York, 
and would frown on any attempt to 
divert funds to a rival Western insti- 
tution. It was on the eve of the dioc- 
esan convention in 1822 that the 
bishop was given his inspiration. 
W T hy not go to England and plead 
for help? The idea came to him on 
hearing that in a recent number of 
a London periodical there had ap- 
peared an article in which the work 
in Ohio had been justly appreciated 
and warmly commended. The idea 
came opportunely. The convention, 
though not optimistic as to the re- 
sult, approved of his making the ef- 
fort, and the bishop prepared to sail 
on October 1, using, to meet the ex- 
penses of the journey, a legacy 
recently left him by an uncle. His 
project met with some opposition in 
the East, but with sufficient success 
abroad. He was gone a little under 
a year and returned with some six 
thousand pounds. 

During the necessary delay and 
discussion as to the site of the future 
institution, there were thirty stu- 
dents in the temporary college — the 
Chase home in Worthington. Finally 
a suitable location was chosen in 
Central Ohio, five miles from Mt. 
Vernon, a tract of 8,000 acres of 
primeval forest bought, and the 
work of clearing was begun. The 
names of the principal donors were 
perpetuated. The village was called 



61 







" ^; ,"* ^- "• ~v r« . 



OLD KENYON 
The building erected by Bishop Chase 



after Lord Gambier, the college for 
Lord Kenyon, the theological sem- 
inary was named Bexley Hall, and 
the chapel for the Dowager Coun- 
tess of Rosse, who with Hannah 
More had contributed to the funds. 
The modern college boy describes 
the bishop's activities in these early 
days in the following song, popular 
among the Kenyon students to-day: 

The first of Kenyon's goodly race 
Was that great man, Philander Chase; 

He climbed the hill, and said a prayer, 
And founded Kenyon College there. 

He dug up stones, he chopped down trees, 
He sailed across the stormy seas 

And begged at every noble's door, 
And also that of Hannah More. 

The king, the queen, the lords, the earls, 
They gave their crowns, they gave their 
pearls, 

Until Philander had enough 
And hurried homeward with the stuff. 



He built the college, built the dam, 
He milked the cow, he smoked the ham, 

He taught the classes, rang the bell, 
And spanked the naughty freshmen well. 

And thus he worked with all his might 
For Kenyon College day and night; 

And Kenyon's heart still keeps a place 
Of love for old Philander Chase. 

That this graphic description of 
the pioneer bishop and college pres- 
ident is a truthful one, we can judge 
by the account given by the Rev. 
Henry Caswall in his book "America 
and the American Church." As a 
young man in England he had heard 
glowing accounts of Bishop Chase 
and determined to visit him. He 
says: 

On my arrival in Gambier I requested to 
be driven to the bishop's residence, and to 
my consternation I was deposited at the 
door of a small and rough log cabin, 
which could boast of but one little win- 
dow, composed of four squares of the most 









: i 








is2t ^Ci 




! ^ ,; 














r\i 4 Sljl 








I2L *- * 


*1S * 






I-l 













THE CATHEDRAL IN CLEVELAND, OHIO 



common glass. "Is this the bishop's pal- 
ace?" I involuntarily exclaimed. Can this, 
I thought, be the residence of the apostolic 
man whose praise is in all the churches, 
and who is venerated by so many excellent 
persons in my native country? It was even 
so; on knocking for admittance the door 
was opened by a dignified female, who soon 
proved to be the bishop's lady herself. In 
reply to my inquiries she informed me that 
the bishop had gone to his mill for some 
flour, but that he would soon return. I had 
waited but a few minutes when I heard a 
powerful voice engaged in conversation out- 
side, and immediately afterwards the bishop 
entered with one of his head workmen. 
The good prelate, then fifty-three years of 
age, was of more than ordinary size, and 
his black cassock bore evident tokens of 
his recent visit to the mill. He was pro- 
ceeding in his conversation with the fore- 
man, when, on hearing my name mentioned, 
he turned to me and very courteously made 
inquiries respecting my journey and several 
of his friends in England. He then invited 
me to partake of his frugal meal, after 
which he desired me to accompany him to 
the college. 

Caswall was agreeably impressed 
with this structure, for the bishop 
had brought home with him more 
than the money with which to build ; 
in the clearing which he made in the 
forest Philander Chase began a 



group of buildings which surpassed 
any collegiate architecture of that 
date in America. 

Unfortunately while there was so 
much individual devotion and hero- 
ism in the early days there was dis- 
sension and trouble as well. That 
Bishop Chase was amply justified in 
founding the college had been dem- 
onstrated by the fact that in 1830 
there were 170 students at the in- 
stitution, and as he had sacrificed 
his life and private means he natur- 
ally considered himself entitled to a 
large measure of authority. Perhaps 
the Church people in Ohio had been 
too long without a bishop, and Phil- 
ander Chase may well have had the 
faults of his virtues, but from what- 
ever cause there developed so much 
friction and ill feeling that in 1831 
he sent in his resignation as bishop 
of the diocese — which included the 
presidency of the seminary and col- 
lege. He could hardly have believed 
it would be accepted, but it was, and 
he at once prepared to leave Gam- 
bier. Later he became Bishop of 
Illinois and his successor, Charles 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



G3 



Pettit Mcllvaine, was elected to the 
diocese of Ohio in 1832. 



IV. Present Conditi 



ons 



Very nearly one hundred years 
have passed since those four clergy- 
men met at Worthington to elect a 
bishop from their number, and now 
the diocese has become two, and our 
bishops four. The southern section 
of the State was set aside as a sepa- 
rate diocese in 1875. The four clergy 
have grown to 195 and the commun- 
icants of the Church number be- 
tween forty-five and fifty thousand, 
but there is much yet to be done. 
The long years when the Church 
was undermanned left a mark. It 
has been hard work catching up. We 
still need the individual consecration 
and the corporate loyalty of the 
early days ; we need it increased one- 
hundred fold that we may really 
possess the land of our forefathers. 

No other State has so great a num- 



ber of college students within its 
borders as Ohio, and in none of the 
educational centers is the Church 
meeting its opportunities — save per- 
haps at Kenyon, one of the three 
Church colleges left in the United 
States. Kenyon's days of usefulness 
are not over. There have been 
eminent men among her alumni in 
the past. Salmon P. Chase, a nephew 
of the bishop, is one of three Kenyon 
men who have sat on the Supreme 
Bench of the United States; Presi- 
dent Hayes graduated there in 1842, 
and Stanton, Lincoln's Secretary of 
War, spent three years at Gambier. 
Statesmen are more needed to-day 
than ever before in the history of 
our country, and it must be the earn- 
est prayer of every Churchman in 
Ohio that Kenyon shall continue to 
supply such men, and Bexley Hall 
develop clergymen of the loyalty, 
devotion and energy of the first sons 
of the Church in Ohio. 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO OHIO" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

Considerable material may be gathered 
from general histories. Bishop Chase's 
"Reminiscences" — in two volumes, an old 
and scarce publication — may be borrowed 
from the Church Missions House. See 
also the "Life of Philander Chase," 
Church Missions Publishing Company. 
Hartford, Conn., price 10 cents; "The 
Church in Eastern Ohio," by Joseph B. 
Doyle, the H. C. Cook Co., Steuben- 
ville, O., and Chapter II of "The Con- 
quest of the Continent," Educational De- 
partment, Church Missions House. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

If a young class, you might try them 
with the old conundrum, "What state is 
round on both ends and high in the 
middle?" They may not have heard it. 
Point out to older pupils in which direc- 
tion the settlement of the United States 
would naturally expand. The Alleghany 
Mountains shut the colonies in on the 
west, but toward Ohio there was an 
opening and the Great Lakes were a 
natural highway. Of course the Church 
tried to follow the emigrants. 



TEACHING THE LESSON 

I. The Beginnings. 

1. What early Churchmen were in Ohio? 

2. Who was Dr. Doddridge? 

3. What did he do for Ohio? 

4. What did he feel to be the great 
need of the Church there? 

II. Philander Chase. 

1. Tell of Bishop Chase's early life. 

2. Where did he minister before going 
to Ohio? 

3. How many people elected him 
bishop? 

III. Kenyon College. 

1. What was Bishop Chase's chief 
need? 

2. How did he get the money to meet 
it? 

3. Tell something about his work as a 
college president. 

4. Why did he resign Ohio? 

IV. Present Conditions. 

1. Tell of present Church conditions in 
Ohio. 

2. What special Christian opportunity 
has this state? 

3. Name some of the statesmen trained 
at Kenyon. 



PUBLISHED BY MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 5 CENTS. 



l ) 



65 



3|oto <&uv Cfjurci) Came to 0ux Country 



IX. 



HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO ILLINOIS 
By the Rev. Francis J. Hall, D.D. 

I. Early Illinois 
TLLINOIS was admitted into the 
I the Union as a state in 1818. But 
its large area of over 60,000 square 



miles was in an exceedingly primitive 
stage of development. The population 
in 1810 was 12,182; in 1820 it had 
risen to 55,162; in 1830 to 157,445, 
and in 1835 was increasing at the rate 
of 75,000 a year. By 1840 it had 
reached 476,183. As late as 1832, the 
panic of Blackhawk's raid occurred. 
A block house erected during this 
panic near the north line of Peoria 
County is mentioned by the Rev. Pal- 
mer Dyer as still standing in 1835. 
Chicago was as yet but a straggling 
village, known chiefly as the scene of 
an Indian massacre of settlers in 1812, 
but developing some lake commerce. 
On the Mississippi River, Alton was a 
flourishing town, and enjoyed much 
river trade. Everyone supposed that 
it was destined to be the future em- 
porium of the state. The population 
previous to the defeat of Blackhawk 
was chiefly located in a crescent along 
the rivers which constitute the south- 
eastern and southwestern boundaries 
of the state, although the neighbor- 
hood of Springfield had begun to fill 
up. The white population in the 
northern half of the state averaged 
less than two for each square mile in 
1830. 

The people were almost entirely of 
the pioneer type. Many strong char- 
acters were to be met with, but as a 
rule they were uncultivated and coarse, 
despising culture, eccentric and self- 
willed. Log cabins prevailed, usually 
consisting of one room below and a 
loft above. Bilious and malarial dis- 
eases were frequent, as is apt to be 






the case in newly settled regions. 
Dicken's description of Cairo, in his 
Martin Chuzzlewit, is no doubt a cari- 
cature, but it is based on much truth. 
The roads were bottomless in wet 
weather, and the expression "the most 
powerfulest road," was one full of 
meaning. Prof. White gives a sample 
dialogue: "What's your place called?" 
"Moggs." "What kind of land there- 
abouts?" "Bogs." "What's the cli- 
mate?" "Fogs." "What's your name?" 
"Scroggs." "What's your house built 
of?" "Logs." "What do you have 
to eat?" "Hogs." "Have you any 




THE OLD BISHOP CHASE 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



neighbors ?" "Frogs." "Gracious, 
haven't you any comforts?" "Grog." 
After the defeat of Blackhawk, a new 
and better tide of immigration poured 
in from the South, and the northern 
half of the state began to fill up. 

For many years the population con- 
sisted chiefly of those who came from 
purely mercenary motives, and who 
cared little for religion or its privi- 
leges. The time soon came, it is true, 
when local pride and the anxiety to 
draw settlers led to the erection of 
"meeting-houses" of the union type, 
but the Church was hardly in the race. 
Jeffersonian democracy and Method- 
ism ruled, and the Roman Church was 
in the field. England was hated with 
the utmost intensity, and this Church 
shared in the prejudice against every- 
thing English. There were numerous 
English immigrants, but, as is often 
the case, they were drawn into Meth- 
odism and other forms of dissent. 
When we learn that some of our pio- 
neer clergy were of the wandering and 
adventurous type, we need not be sur- 
prised that many years had to pass 
before the Church could lift her head. 
Instead of the Church came — after 
the Methodists — Baptists, Exhorters, 
Campbellites, Disciples, Cumberland 
Presbyterians, Soul Sleepers and 
Mormons, — the last named establish- 
ing their headquarters at Nauvoo. 

The earliest parochial organization 
of which any record remains was that 
of St. John's, Albion, in 1825, under 
the Rev. Mr. Baldwin, who had been 
sent out by the then Missionary So- 
ciety of this Church. No services fol- 
lowed, however, and when Church life 
revived in 1842 but one of the original 
vestrymen survived, and a new parish 
had to be organized. Trinity parish, 
Jacksonville, was organized in Au- 
gust, 1832; our first church building 
in this state was completed there in 
the fall of 1835. 

The first service in Chicago was held 
by the Rev. Palmer Dyer, October 12, 
1834, in the Presbyterian meeting- 



house. The Rev. Isaac Hallam ar- 
rived that evening and preached the 
following Sunday in the Baptist meet- 
ing-house. On October 26 the mother 
parish of the diocese of Chicago, St. 
James', was organized in an unfinished 
building on North Water Street, near 
Dearborn Street drawbridge. The new 
parish held its services wherever 
chance offered, in dissenting meeting- 
houses and private residences. A 
church building, 64x44 feet, was com- 
menced in July, 1835 on the southwest 
corner of Cass and Illinois streets ; 
twenty communicants were reported 
in 1836. The body of the church was 
occupied March 26, 1837, the base- 
ment having been used for some time 
already. The bell, the first in Chicago, 
was rung on Christmas Day, 1836. 
All the houses were located close to 
the river. Swamps and timber 
stretched away to the north and west 
from the Church porch, with scarcely 
a building in these directions. The 
Romanists, Methodists, Presbyterians 
and Baptists had recently located on 
the south side. 

77. Illinois a Diocese 



Such were the conditions under 
which a "corporal's guard" of clergy 
and lay delegates met at Peoria, 
March 9, 1835, and organized the dio- 
cese of Illinois. Three clergy attend- 
ed — the Revs. John Batchelder, Pal- 
mer Dyer and James C. Richmond. 
Lay delegates came from St. Jude's, 
Peoria; Christ, Rushville; and Grace, 
Beardstown. The Rev. Isaac Hallam 
was absent, and the name of his parish 
was unknown. In the evening, after 
long discussion, it was unanimously 
resolved "that this Convention do 
hereby appoint the Rt. Rev. Philander 
Chase, D.D., a bishop in the Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church in the United 
States of America, to the episcopate 
of Illinois ; and that he be and hereby 
is invited to move into this diocese, 
and to assume episcopal jurisdiction 
in the same." A Constitution, consist- 



67 




THE FIRST CATHEDRAL IN ILLINOIS AT JUBILEE 



ing of ten articles, and five canons, 
was adopted. Bishop Chase was noti- 
fied of his election in a letter dated 
March 10, and replied from Gilead, 
Mich., April 3, accepting the charge. 

The story of Bishop Chase's early- 
life and first episcopate belong to the 
history of the Church in Ohio and will 
be found in a former article. Suffice 
it to say that after having secured in 
England the money to build Kenyon 
College, Gambier, and after having la- 
bored indefatigably for twelve years 
as Bishop of Ohio, he resigned his 
office in 1831 and removed the follow- 
ing year to Gilead, Michigan, near the 
Indiana state line, where he devoted 
himself to farming and missionary 
labor. 

Bishop Chase is said to have been 
over six feet tall, and to have pos- 
sessed a large and impressive figure. 
He is reported to have weighed fully 
three hundred pounds, in his later 
years. His countenance was pleasing 
and gracious, although marked with 
indications of an indomitable and com- 
manding will. His strength of will 
was one of his most prominent traits, 
and was accompanied by other pecu- 
liarities characteristic of a rugged 



pioneer. Strong convictions, unquali- 
fied by any doubts as to the correct- 
ness of his position and judgment, in- 
duced a somewhat dogmatic and im- 
pulsive tone and temper. His energy 
was untiring, and his care for every 
portion of his field, however remote 
and sparsely settled, was unremitting. 
He was possessed of strong lungs, and 
his powerful voice added to the im- 
pressiveness of his oratory. His piety 
was deep and genuine, and his motto, 
Jehovah Jireh, "the Lord will pro- 
vide," is well known ; but he was apt 
to refer over- frequently to his relig- 
ious experiences and trials, with a 
view to public edification. But, at his 
worst, he seems to have erred chiefly 
in failing to realize that those who 
differed from him could not in the 
nature of things detect the loftiness 
of his motives beneath his somewhat 
doubtful methods. The Church owes 
much to him, but he was too individ- 
ualistic to escape just criticism. 

Bishop Chase undertook the vast 
work to which he was called in Illinois 
at the age of fifty-nine, without any 
proffer or prospect of reasonable 
earthly support, being informed "that 
there was no ability to afford any." 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



On May 4, 1835, he left Gilead with a 
distant connection, the Rev. Samuel 
Chase, and others. He visited Chi- 
cago, Juliet (now Joliet), Peoria, 
Lewiston, Rushville, Beardstown, 
Jacksonville and Springfield. At 
Springfield he left Mr. Chase in 
charge. He had found but one church 
edifice in the state, that at Jackson- 
ville. On June 28 he set out from 
Springfield for the General Conven- 
tion at Philadelphia. 

The most pressing problem of 
Bishop Chase was to secure an ade- 
quate supply of clergy. These he be- 
lieved he must train in Illinois ; there- 
fore, he must have a theological semi- 
nary. Accordingly he made a second 
journey to England to raise funds, 
asking Bishop Kemper to visit the dio- 
cese in his absence. 

In England Bishop Chase found 
that some of his former friends were 
dead and others disinclined to repeat 
their benefactions. But before return- 
ing home he had secured pledges for 
about $10,000 and a large number of 
valuable books for his prospective 
seminary library. 

In the latter part of May, 1836, the 
Bishop arrived in New York and after 
depositing his funds at interest re- 
joined his family at Gilead and 
brought them to Illinois. After visits 
in Chicago and Joliet, he went in Pe- 
oria County and located a suitable 
place for the Seminary. Nearby he 
built a log-house, which he described 
as made "of mud and sticks and filled 
with young ones." It was appropri- 
ately named "The Robins' Nest." The 
land which he occupied is some fifteen 
miles northwest of Peoria on the 
Kickapoo creek. The country is roll- 
ing and of diversified beauty. It is 
underlaid with rich beds of soft coal, 
and somewhat isolated from the ordi- 
nary lines of communication. The site 
was chosen partly for this reason, as 
the Bishop sought to separate those 
in attendance upon the institution 
from contact with worldly life. 



The financial panic of 1837 was se- 
verely felt by the Church. There was 
much poverty. Many Chicago people 
raised vegetables in their city lots to 
keep themselves from starving. Sev- 
eral years of depression followed. A 
Church building started in Galena had 
to be suspended, and a small chapel, 
25x40, was erected instead. The es- 
tablishment of Jubilee College, as the 
Bishop's Seminary was to be called, 
was delayed several years. The Bishop 
describes his travels, in his address to 
the Convention of 1838, as having 
"been over many extended prairies, 
intersected by streams without bridges, 
and sloughs as if without bottom; the 
country generally thinly inhabited; 
cabins few and far between; villages 
just filling up with inhabitants ex- 
hausted of their means by removing 
to the Far West, and struggling for 
a bare existence." During his travels 
in 1837 he once had to pass a night 
in his wagon fighting mosquitoes. Fin- 
ally he broke two ribs by being upset, 
and was forced to right things without 
assistance, as he was alone. He finally 
reached home and had to postpone 
further visitations until October, when 
he visited southward and in his own 
neighborhood. The manner in which 
he searched out Church people, and 
held services in their cabins wherever 
he journeyed, was truly apostolic. 

A letter of November 12, 1838, 
from the Bishop to a friend, concludes 
as follows: "In September, 1831, 
I left those dear places by me 
named Gambier Hill and Kenyon 
College — in 1838, precisely in the 
same month and the same day of the 
month, I blow the trumpet in Zion 
for joy, that another school of the 
prophets, more than five hundred miles 
still further towards the setting sun, 
is founded to the glory of the great 
Redeemer." We now know that this 
child of the Bishop's old age was not 
to continue long in active life ; but we 
can hardly fail to feel much sympathy 
with his glad outburst — especially as 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



09 



we know that, in its day, Jubilee Col- 
lege achieved much for the Church in 
Illinois. The corner-stone of the 
Chapel and School House was laid 
April 3, 1839, amid much rejoicing. 

The bishop's strength could not last 
forever, and a special convention in 
1851 elected the Rev. Dr. Henry John 
Whitehouse to be his assistant. The 
end soon came. Bishop Whitehouse 
says, in his annual address of 1853, 
that Bishop Chase pointed out to him, 
some months before his death, some 
walnut planks which he kept in readi- 
ness for his coffin. When the hope 
was expressed "that they might lie 
long to season," the aged prelate re- 
plied in effect, "They are ready now, 
as I am." On September 14, 1852, 
he was overturned from his carriage, 
and fell violently to the ground. On 
recovering consciousness he said to 
those who bore him homewards, "You 
may now order my coffin, — I am glad 
of it!" He sank to his rest Septem- 
ber 20th, at the age of seventy-seven, 
and was buried at Jubilee. 

To no other prelate has fallen the 
task of founding two Dioceses — now 
divided into five — and two Theologi- 
cal Seminaries. He had his faults, 
but he was a chosen vessel, and God 
has taken him to Himself. May per- 
petual light shine upon him! 

III. The Cathedral Builder 

Bishop Whitehouse — who was 
chosen somewhat through the per- 
sonal influence of Bishop Chase — was 
rector of St. Thomas's Church, New 
York. For many years he had been 
an active and zealous member of the 
Committee on Domestic Missions. 
Perhaps because of this he was 
thought to be an excellent choice for 
what was altogether missionary work. 
It is not impossible, however, that the 
fact that he had independent means 
may have influenced the choice. This 
seems the more probable because for 
many years after his election he re- 
ceived no salary. Bishop Whitehouse 




BISHOP WHITEHOUSE 

was consecrated in St. George's 
Church, New York, November 20 
1851. For ten months only he re 
mained assistant bishop, as in the fol- 
lowing September occurred the death 
of Philander Chase. 

For twenty-two years Bishop White- 
house administered the diocese of Chi- 
cago in its formative period. There 
are few figures in the American epis- 
copate about whom such diverse 
opinions have been formed. He had 
much of the positiveness of his prede- 
cessor, with none of his democracy. 
He was not only a man of eastern 
training but of aristocratic tempera- 
ment. It is doubtless true also that the 
early clergy of Illinois were men of 
independent spirit. It is difficult to 
assign responsibility, and no doubt 
there was misunderstanding and 
wrong on both sides, but at any rate 
the early years of Bishop Whitehouse 
were years of civil war, or at best of 
armed truce, to the Church in Illinois. 
About two points the combat chiefly 






How Our Church Came to Our Country 



gathered : first, he was for many years 
a non-resident of his diocese, and his 
continued residence in New York pro- 
voked serious criticism. He had a 
large family of growing children who 
needed education, and it was said that 
Mrs. Whitehouse did not desire to live 
in the West. At any rate, an unfortu- 
nate impression became deep-seated 
that he held himself above the sur- 
roundings of his work. It was be- 
cause of this controversy that the Gen- 
eral Convention of 1859 passed the 
canon which requires that a bishop 
shall reside within the limits of his 
diocese. In the following year, 1860, 
Bishop Whitehouse removed to Chi- 
cago, and so ended this part of the 
controversy. 

The second point concerned a pol- 
icy of administration. The new 
bishop came to Chicago with the idea 
of founding a cathedral. This was a 
new thing in the American Church. 
Immediately after the death of Bishop 
Chase he began negotiating for prop- 
erty, and proposed himself to bear the 
expense of a bishop's house. Thus 
Illinois became the pioneer in what is 
now a commonplace — the establish- 
ment of a bishop's church, with free 
seats and daily services, the centre of 
the charitable, educational and mis- 
sionary work of the diocese. But at 
that time such a proposal seemed 
novel and foreign, and drew a fire of 
criticism and opposition sufficient to 
delay for some years the fulfillment 
of the project. In the meanwhile the 
land for which he had contracted (the 
southeast corner of Wabash Avenue 
and Jackson Street), immensely in- 
creased in value, and the owner de- 
clined to fulfill his contract. Suit was 
brought, but finally — inasmuch as the 
property, being in the heart of the 
present city of Chicago, had become 
manifestly undesirable for the bish- 
op's purpose, — he compromised with 
the owner who paid $6,000 for the 
cancelling of the contract. So bitter 



had become the opposition by this time 
that the bishop was accused of selling 
out the interests of the Church in Illi- 
nois. 

A third controversy arose over Ju- 
bilee College, which, partly because 
of its location, had a somewhat un- 
fortunate history. It was alleged by 
the bishop's opponents that he favored 
Racine and Nashotah, in Wisconsin, 
and was not unwilling to see his own 
diocesan institution languish. There 
seems to have been no fair ground for 
such a criticism. 

So he battled on, almost throughout 
his episcopate. Peace came only with 
his later years, but it would be unfair 
to withhold from Bishop Whitehouse 
the praise due for his scholarly ability 
and courageous service to the Church. 
His mistakes were due to infirmities 
of character rather than to compro- 
mises of principle, and it must also be 
remembered that his episcopate cov- 
ered the stormiest time of our nation's 
history, the period before, during and 
after the Civil War, when men's 
minds were little at peace, and con- 
structive planning was sure to en- 
counter active opposition. 

During this time also came the 
schism within the American Church 
which brought about the establishment 
of the Reformed Episcopal Church. 
Bishop Cummins, the assistant of 
Kentucky, seceded, and with him went 
the Rev. Mr. Cheney, rector of Christ 
Church, Chicago. Much of the battle 
which surrounded this schism was 
fought out in Chicago, and it should 
be said that the courage and devotion 
to the Church exhibited by Bishop 
Whitehouse in this crisis resulted in 
winning back for him the confidence 
and support of a large majority of his 
clergy, so that at the close of his ca- 
reer a united diocese was at his back 
Sometimes unfortunately, but far 
more frequently for good, this domi- 
nant man left his mark upon the dio- 
cese of Chicago. 



71 



•1 




Photo by Underwood & Underwood, New York. 

THE COLISEUM, CHICAGO, WHERE NATIONAL CONVENTIONS ARE HELD 



IV. The Province of Illinois 

In spite of its difficulties under the 
episcopate of Bishop Whitehouse, the 
Church in Illinois developed so that 
shortly after his death it was divided 
into three dioceses. This, however, 
was not done until after the election 
of his successor. 

This election witnessed one of the 
momentous Church contests of that 
period. The choice of the convention 
first fell upon James De Koven, the 
warden of Racine College. This noble 
and saintly man was rejected by the 
bishops and standing committees be- 
cause of what were alleged to be 
his ritualistic tendencies. Again the 
convention met and chose the^ Rev. 
George Franklin Seymour, dean of 
the General Theological Seminary, and 
again confirmation of the election was 
refused for the same reason. It was 
only after a third election that the 
Rev. Dr. W. E. McLaren obtained the 
confirmation of the general Church 
and became the third bishop of Chi- 
cago. 

Not only the cathedral idea but the 
provincial system found an early ex- 
ponent in the Illinois diocese. In 1877 
the dioceses of Quincy in the west of 



the State and Springfield in the south 
were set off, and the remaining por- 
tion received the title of the diocese 
of Chicago, the three dioceses being 
united in the Province of Illinois, cov- 
ering the whole state and having a 
provincial synod. Here were found 
the beginnings of the method of or- 
ganization now universal throughout 
the country. 

Quincy's first bishop was the Right 
Rev. Dr. Alexander Burgess, whose 
episcopate lasted for twenty-three 
years. Shortly before his death in 
1901 a coadjutor, the Right Rev. Fred- 
erick William Taylor, had been conse- 
crated, but he survived Bishop Bur- 
gess less than two years and was suc- 
ceeded in 1904 by the present diocesan, 
the Right Rev. Dr. Edward Fawcett. 

For Springfield the choice fell upon 
Dr. Seymour, dean of the General 
Theological Seminary. It was a sig- 
nificant indication of the change which 
had come over the spirit of the Church 
that his election was at this time con- 
firmed, and he became the first bishop 
of Springfield. During the twenty- 
eight years of his episcopate he exer- 
cised a wide influence in the affairs 
of the Church, being recognized as a 






How Our Church Came to Our Country 



man of profound convictions and 
great intellectual power. On his 
death in 1906 he was succeeded by his 
coadjutor, Bishop Osborne, the pres- 
ent head of the diocese. 

Bishop McLaren was for thirty 
years the diocesan of Chicago, during 
which time the diocese had grown 
tremendously under his hand, so that 
it became necessary for him to ask 
for a coadjutor, and the Rev. Charles 
Palmerston Anderson, D.D., was 
elected. In 1905, at the death of 
Bishop McLaren, he succeeded as dio- 
cesan. Under his leadership the dio- 
cese has gone on to its present high 
efficiency. 

Chicago was among the few dio- 
ceses of the country to avail them- 
selves of the permission given by the 
convention of 1910 to elect a suffra- 
gan. The choice fell upon Archdea- 
con William Edward Toll, a man of 



ripe experience, sixty years of age, 
well beloved and old in service. Bishop 
Toll proved a most efficient helper, 
but after little more than three years 
of consecrated service he died sud- 
denly while in the midst of his work. 

It is but four score years since the 
newly-elected bishop of Illinois, on 
his way to make the acquaintance of 
his four presbyters with their one lone 
church building, visited the "newly- 
built town of a few houses" called 
Chicago; today the 210 parishes and 
missions of the three dioceses in Illi- 
nois represent only part of the 
Church's life in that state. A theo- 
logical seminary, hospitals, homes for 
the aged and disabled, orphan asylums 
and many other works of charity and 
mercy, carry on that spirit of service 
which was the impelling power in the 
lives of the pioneers of the Church in 
Illinois. 



'HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO ILLINOIS" IN CLASS 

WORK 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

NOT a few reliable books of fiction will 
throw light on the early conditions 
in Illinois. Consult your librarians 
about them. 

Among sources of information con- 
cerning the diocese of Illinois may be 
mentioned a history of the diocese ol 
Chicago in pamphlet form by the Rev. 
Dr. Hall, Professor of Dogmatic The- 
ology at the General Theological Semi- 
nary, New York; the Life of Bishop 
Chase, Church Missions Publishing Co.. 
Hartford, Conn.; Bishop Kemper and 
His Contemporaries, by Greenough 
White, and the general Church histories 
of Tiffany and McConnell. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

The best point of contact will perhaps 
be to develop what the class knows about 
Chicago, the second city in the country 
and its great central metropolis. An- 
other method might be to follow Bishop 
Philander Chase as he travels westward, 
having given up his work in Ohio. 



TEACHING THE LESSON 

I. Early Illinois. 

1. Describe the conditions existing in 

Illinois in 1835. 

2. Tell something about the people. 

3. Why was it a difficult field for the 

Church? 

4. Who were the Church's pioneers? 

II. Illinois a Diocese. 

1. How large a convention elected the 

first bishop? 

2. Who was Philander Chase? 

3. What was his great problem? 

4. Give a description of his character. 

III. The Cathedral Builder. 

1. Who was Bishop Whitehouse? 

2. What plans did he have for Illinois? 

3. What special difficulties did he en- 

counter? 

IV. The Province of Illinois. 

1. What is an ecclesiastical province? 

2. What did the Province of Illinois 
include? 

3. Name the three dioceses and their 
present bishops. 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



73 



itoto <&uv Cfmrcfi Came to 0m Country 



X. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO GEORGIA 
By the Rev. James B. Lawrence 



I. Colonial, 1733- 1782 

ON November 17th, 1732, the 
Ann, a galley of two hundred 
tons, set sail from Gravesend 
with the first emigrants to the Col- 
ony of Georgia. The Rev. Henry 
Herbert, D.D., with the single purpose 
of caring for the spiritual needs of 
the colonists, and without fee or hope 
of reward, accompanied them on the 
voyage. On January 13th, 1733, they 
first sighted land, and on the 20th 
they landed at Beaufort, S. C. Here 
they were hospitably entertained until 
January 30th, when they embarked on 
a sloop of seventy tons and on five 
plantation boats for the place where 
General James Oglethorpe had chosen 
a site for the new colony. Thus, on 



February 12th, 1733, they finally 
landed at Yamacraw Bluff on the Sa- 
vannah River, and having offered 
thanksgiving to God for their pros- 
perous voyage and safe arrival, they 
set about the work of building wha L 
is now the city of Savannah. Dr. Her- 
bert remained three months in the 
colony, when, on account of illness, 
he set sail for England. He died on 
the return voyage and his body rests 
in its watery grave until that great 
day when the earth and the sea shall 
give up their dead. 

A site was appointed for a church 
and a sufficient glebe for the minister 
Of the many missionaries who gave 
their services to the church in Savan- 
nah, only one remained any consider 




OLD CHRIST CHURCH, SAVANNAH, GA. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



able length of time. Of the others, 
two did work whose influence lasts to 
this day. 

John Wesley arrived in Savannah 
in February, 1736, and remained until 
-December, 1737. It was during this 
time that a Sunday-school was organ- 
ized under the superintendence of Mr. 
Delamotte, which^-still in operation — 
is the oldest Sunday-school in the 
world. It was also during this time 
that thirty or forty persons met at 
Wesley's house — a meeting which he 
afterwards described as the second 
period in the rise of Methodism. 

In December, 1738, the Rev. George 
Whitefield came to Georgia, the church 
in Savannah being the only parish he 
ever had. He devoted most of his 
time and eloquence to building a home 
for orphans, which he named "Beth- 
esda" and placed in charge of James 
Habersham. On March 25th, 1740, 
Whitefield laid the first brick of the 
main building. This work absorbed 
him. He made thirteen voyages across 
the Atlantic when voyages were 
dangerous, and ten distinct visits to 
Georgia, chiefly in the interest of 
Bethesda. Of a sermon preached in 
behalf of the home Benjamin Frank- 
lin says: "I happened soon after to 
attend one of his sermons, in the 
course of which I perceived he in- 
tended to finish with a collection, and 
I silently resolved that he should get 
nothing from me. I had in my pocket 
a handful of copper money, three or 
four silver dollars, and five pistoles 
of gold. As he proceeded, I began to 
soften, and concluded to give the cop- 
per. Another stroke of oratory made 
me ashamed of that, and determined 
me to give the silver; and he finished 
so admirably that I emptied my pocket 
wholly into the collector's dish, gold 
and all." 

But the man who in those days de- 
voted the influence of his life to the 
Church in Savannah, was the Rev. 
Bartholomew Zouberbuhler. Born in 
St. Gall, Switzerland, educated in 



Charleston, ordained deacon and priest 
by the Bishop of London, he arrived 
in Savannah in January, 1746, and re- 
mained in charge of the church until 
his death in December, 1766. It was 
during this time that the first Christ 
Church was built. In 1746 President 
Stephens wrote: "The roof of it is 
covered with shingles, but as to the 
sides and ends of it, it remains a skele- 
ton." Finally, on July 7th, 1750, the 
seventeenth anniversary of the estab- 
lishment of the first court of judica- 
ture in Georgia, and the eighth anni- 
versary of the victory gained by Ogle- 
thorpe over the Spaniards at Fred- 
erica, the building, "large, beautiful, 
and commodious," was dedicated to 
the worship of Almighty God. This 
building was enlarged in 1766, burned 
in 1796, rebuilt during the years 1801- 
1806, and replaced in 1838 by the one 
which now stands, a memorial to the 
sacred history of the state. 

When, on February 15th, 1736, 
General Oglethorpe began to build the 
fort and town of Frederica, St. Si- 
mon's Island, as a protection against 
Spanish aggression, he was accompa- 
nied by his secretary and chaplain, 
the Rev. Charles Wesley, who until 
his departure in the following July 
supplied the regiment and inhabitants 
with the services of the Church. A 
tabby building with basement, lower 
and upper stories was built, and in the 
upper story the services were held. 
This mission, like those in Savannah 
and Augusta, was supplied with clergy 
by the S. P. G. until the close of the 
Revolution. 

It was organized into a parish in 
1808 by several planters who had 
settled on the island for the purpose of 
cultivating indigo at first, and after- 
wards the more lucrative crop of cot- 
ton. In 1840 the church was greatly 
in need of repairs; but there was not 
enough money for doing the work. 
One day a swarm of bees was found 
busy about the steeple of the church. 
Investigation proved that the steeple 



75 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



was filled with honey. This was sold, 
and money enough realized to do the 
necessary repairs. Owing to the sug- 
gestion of this incident, the "Bee-Hive 
Missionary Society" was formed 
which emulated the busy bee in its 
work for missions. 

After the war between the States 
this church was given services by 
faithful lay readers until 1879, when 
the parish was reorganized by the Rev. 
A. G. P. Dodge, Jr. This devoted 
priest and fervent missionary gave his 
services for the upbuilding of the 
work until 1898 when he closed his 
earthly career and generously left an 
endowment for the continuation of the 
parish, and also a fund, the income of 
which has been instrumental in found- 
ing and maintaining fully two-thirds 
of the missions in the diocese of 
Georgia. 

On March 22d, 1916, St. Paul's 
Church, Augusta, was burned to the 
ground by a disastrous fire which de- 
stroyed a large portion 
of the city. This irrep- 
arable and historic loss 
is mourned by the en- 
tire diocese and the 
church at large. The 
church thus destroyed 
was built in 1819 and 
took the place of the 
second building which 
was finished in 1786. 
The first St. Paul's was 
built in 1750 and is best 
described by the follow- 
ing letter addressed to 
the Trustees for estab- 
lishing the Colony of 
Georgia in America: 

"The following Memorial 
in behalf of the Inhabitants 
of the Town and Township 
of Augusta is humbly pre- 
sented : 

"The principal Inhabitants 
at a General Meeting here, 
having taken into Consid- 
eration the Number of Set- 
tlers, and the daily Increase 
of them, together with the 



many Traders and Servants by them em- 
ployed in the Indian Countries round us 
(who twice a year reside two months each 
Time in this Place) the Necessity of a 
Place of Divine Worship was too evident 
not to be taken notice of by them, more 
especially as those People for many Years 
had quite been Strangers to the Church 
Service, till lately at the Fort. 

"For this therefore, and other Reasons, 
your humble Servants the Subscribers were 
appointed by all at the said Meeting, to 
act in the Nature of a Committee, in col- 
lecting Subscriptions, agreeing with proper 
Workmen, and superintending the building 
of a Church. Pursuant to the said Reso- 
lution, we have collected several sums of 
Money, and erected a Church, a Plan of 
which is herewith sent to your Honours ; 
and we believe we may venture to say, 
that there is no Church so far advanced 
in the Indian Country as this, and as soon 
finished. But as Indian Friendship is some- 
times precarious, we have built it opposite 
one of the Curtains of the Fort, that the 
Guns of the Bastions may secure it, and 
that it may be a place of retreat for the 
Inhabitants of the Place in sudden Alarms. 

"What we have therefore to beg of your 
Honours is that you'll be pleas'd to procure 
for us a Clergyman of the Church of Eng- 











THE "BEEHIVE CHURCH" AT FREDERICA 



<176 




ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, AUGUSTA, GA. 




THE RUINS AFTER THE FIRE OF MARCH 22, 1916 



77 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



land from the Society for Propagation of 
the Gospel, and a well-qualitied one is not 
only necessary for the Instruction and Edi- 
fication of the lower Sett of the Inhabitants, 
but may also in time assist the Religious 
Work for which that Society was first 
established, we hope He will be put on a 
good rooting; and we assure your Honours, 
that our little Mites, and those of several 
other Subscribers shall not be wanting to 
make this Place agreeable to such a One. 

"We beg also that your Honours will be 
pleased to grant to the Inhabitants of this 
Town the Ground on which the Church, 
the Churchyard, and Avenue leading to it, 
are, independent of the Commanding Of- 
ficer of the Fort, excepting in Time of 
Danger, or in such Manner as your Hon- 
ours shall think most expedient. 

"We have already in some measure ex- 
perienced the good effects of Divine Ser- 
vice being celebrated in the Officers Room 
in the Fort by a Layman, as numbers of 
the Inhabitants have regularly and decently 
attended every Sunday. 

"We have nothing more to ask, unless 
your Honours are inclined to add some 
little decorations, viz't : Some glass for the 
Windows, Pulpit Cloth, Sacramental Or- 
naments, etc., which will be thankfully ac- 
cepted, and always gratefully acknowledged 
by your Honours 

Most Obliged, Most Obedient 
and Most Humble Servants, 
Geo. Cadogan Jas. Campbell 
John Ral Da. Douglass 

James Fraser." 

"Augusta, April 12th, 1750." 

77. Organization, 1783- 1840 

Thus in Colonial days these three 
churches — Christ Church, Savannah, 
Christ Church, Frederica, and St. 
Paul's Church, Augusta — were found- 
ed. They had been supplied with 
clergy, who, sent out by the Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel, 
owed their allegiance to the Crown of 
England. Therefore when, on July 
21, 1782, British rule came to a close 
in Georgia, the Church, without clergy 
and without support, was almost an- 
nihilated. Yet the seed sown was not 
dead, only buried; but it was some 
time before a fully organized Church 
was developed. 

At a meeting of the Vestry of Christ 
Church, Savannah, held in December, 
1793, we find a resolution passed 



"That the 'Book of Common Prayer' 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
the United States, ratified by a con- 
vention of the said Church and made 
of force on the 1st October, 1790, be 
adopted for the present by this 
Church, subject to such alteration as 
shall hereafter be agreed by the of- 
ficiating minister of Christ Church and 
the Vestry thereof." 

Another incident, showing how the 
Church in Georgia was reaching out 
toward the organized life of the na- 
tion-wide Church, occurred when the 
Rev. John V. Bartow, rector of 
Christ Church, Savannah, presented 
to the General Convention which met 
May 23, 1811, in Trinity Church, New 
Haven, a certificate of his appointment 
to attend the Convention signed by the 
wardens and vestry of the "Episcopal 
Church in the city of Savannah. State 
of Georgia." The Convention passed 
a resolution stating that the "Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church in the State of 
Georgia, not being organized, and not 
having, in Convention, acceded to the 
constitution of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church in the United States of 
America, the Rev. Mr. Bartow can- 
not be admitted a member of this 
House, but he be allowed the privilege 
of an honorary seat." 

It was not until the 24th of Febru- 
ary, 1823, that the Primary Conven- 
tion of the clergy and laity of Georgia 
met in St. Paul's Church, Augusta, for 
organization. Three clergymen were 
present, the Rev. Edward Matthews, 
rector of Christ Church, St. Simon's 
Island, the Rev. Abiel Carter, Rector 
of Christ Church, Savannah, and the 
Rev. Hugh Smith, Rector of St. Paul's 
Church, Augusta. Five lay delegates 
from Savannah and Augusta were 
present. Rules of order and a consti- 
tution and canons were adopted, and 
the Convention acceded to the consti- 
tution and canons of the Church in the 
United States. As clerical deputies to 
the General Convention, the Rev. Ed- 
ward Matthews, the Rev. Abiel Carter, 



H 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



and the Rev. Hugh Smith were 
chosen; the lay deputies were George 
Jones, Anthony Barclay, and William 
W. Hazzard. 

Only the last-named clerical and 
the first-named lay deputy attended 
the session of 1823, at which the 
Church in the State of Georgia was 
received into union with the General 
Convention. 

Although the diocese was now or- 
ganized, there were to be many years 
before it was to have its own bishop. 
From 1798 until his death, October 
28, 1801, the Rt. Rev. Robert Smith, 
D.D., Bishop of South Carolina, by 
correspondence kept in touch with the 
condition of the Church in Georgia. 
On April 26, 1815, his successor, 
Bishop Theodore Dehon, consecrated 
Christ Church, Savannah (the second 
building), and confirmed a class of 
about fifty. This is the first visit of a 
bishop to Georgia. His successor, 
Bishop Nathaniel Bowen, gave episco- 
pal aid until the year before his death 
which took place in 1838. In that year 
Bishop Jackson Kemper visited Geor- 




BISHOP ELLIOTT 



gia, confirmed classes, and consecrated 
Trinity Church, Columbus. 

///. Bishop Elliott, 1841-1866 

Several efforts were made to solve 
the episcopal problem of the diocese. 
One of these was to have a bishop for 
the Southwest. Another was to unite 
Florida, Alabama, and Georgia under 
the episcopal care of one bishop. But 
the plans attempted all failed. At last 
the Convention which met in Grace 
Church, Clarkesville, May 5, 1840, 
elected the Rev. Stephen Elliott, Jr., 
and on February 28, 1841, he was con- 
secrated first Bishop of Georgia. Born 
in 1806, he was not quite thirty-five 
years old at the time of his consecra- 
tion. With the enthusiasm of youth, 
with splendid poise of mind and body, 
full of God's grace, and with a heart 
of oak, he began at once to devote 
himself to the difficult task before 
him. With a list of eight clergy, five 
churches, two missions, and 323 com- 
municants, he undertook to build up 
the Church in the state largest in area 
east of the Mississippi. 

He devoted much pains to the in- 
crease of a native ministry. John 
James Hunt, who had been made dea- 
con on January 2, 1835, in St. 
Michael's Church, Charleston, and or- 
dained priest in the same place on No- 
vember 25, 1836, was the first native 
Georgian to enter the ministry of this 
Church. One day he gave a young 
man a Prayer Book. It was like 
leaven. The young man, Thomas F. 
Scott, came into the Church, and fin- 
ally became the first Bishop of Ore- 
gon. Influenced by our beautiful 
liturgy and by the imposing character 
of Bishop Elliott, William Bacon 
Stevens entered the ministry, ulti- 
mately to become the fourth Bishop of 
Pennsylvania. Among many others, 
special mention should be made of 
Henry K. Rees, a prince of mission- 
aries, who devoted his entire ministry 
to the diocese. 

Together with the increase of the 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



79 



ministry, Christian education occupied 
a large pan of the Bishop's thoughts. 
The seminary for girls which he 
founded at Montpelier cost him not 
only anxious care but his private for- 
tune ; and although this school has long 
been abandoned, there are women yet 
living" who are grateful for the les- 
sons learned and the inspiration re- 
ceived there. Bishop Elliott, with 
Bishop Otey and Bishop Polk, formed 
that great triumvirate which founded 
the University of the South at Se- 
wanee. He was careful for the in- 
struction of the slaves, and St. 
Stephen's Church, Savannah, was one 
of the first parishes for colored people 
in the country. 

At the time of Bishop Elliott's death 
in 1866, the clergy list shows twenty- 
five clergymen resident in the diocese, 
ministering to twenty-eight parishes 
and missions, whose communicants 
numbered more than 2,000. Bishop 
Stevens said of him: "His character, 
like his body, was majestic and sym- 
metrical with manly strength and 
glory; it was the noble temple of a 
noble soul. His mind was of large 
calibre and cultivated with sedulous 
care. His eloquence was the outburst 
of a well-stored, well-trained intellect, 
pouring itself through lips, not wet 
merely with Castalia's dew, but 
touched, as by angel hands, with coals 
from off the Altar." 

IV. Later Days 

When the War between the States 
came to an end, there came to an end 
with it the old ideas, institutions and 
civilization. Bishop Elliott belonged 
to the old regime, and when it died he 
died also. There now dawned upon 
the South new times, new ideas, a 
changed condition of things. The 
times were hard for a quarter of a 
century. Stipends were difficult to 
raise, even in the larger congregations, 
while the missionaries were poorly and 
irregularly paid. One missionary in a 
small town ministering to a congre- 



gation of sixteen communicants writes 
in 1873 : "The minister would have 
starved, with his sick family, had it 
not been for the kind assistance of 
friends in Christ Church, Savannah, 

and of Col. W , of Macon." 

It has been seen with what courage 
Bishop Elliott began his episcopate. 
It required no less courage for the 
Rt. Rev. John W. Beckwith, D.D., 
consecrated second Bishop of Georgia, 
April 2d, 1868, to face the new condi- 
tions which confronted him. His task 
was to put faith and courage into men 
and women who were undergoing 
hard times and being trained in the 
school of adversity. Well did the new 
bishop do his work. His wonderful 
voice, bringing out the full meaning 
of the services, at once arrested the 
attention of his hearers. When Bishop 
Beckwith read, people listened. His 
oratory in the pulpit attracted large 
congregations wherever he went, and 




BISHOP BECKWITH 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



the course of his episcopal visitations 
was like a royal progress. 

He continued the work of pushing 
the church into the smaller towns and 
villages, while in the larger cities the 
old parishes grew and new ones were 
formed, so that when he died, No- 
vember 23, 1890, the number of com- 
municants in the diocese had more 
than doubled. One of the distinguish- 
ing marks of his episcopate is the 
foundation of the Appleton Church 
Home for orphan children, in Macon, 
which will always be a monument to 
the greatness of the bishop, and to the 
liberality of the generous donor whose 
name it bears. 

But we must bring our story to a 
close with brief mention of men still 
living. The Rt. Rev. Cleland Kin- 
loch Nelson, D.D., consecrated on 
February 24th, 1892, as third Bishop 
of Georgia, developed an episcopate 
whose chief characteristic is its in- 



tense missionary activity. The work 
in a few years grew to such an extent 
that it was too much for one bishop. 
Accordingly, on October 7, 1907, 
Georgia was divided. Bishop Nelson 
elected to administer the new diocese, 
the northern part of the state, and be- 
came the first Bishop of Atlanta. 

On May 20, 1908, the Rt. Rev. 
Frederick F. Reese, D.D., was conse- 
crated fourth bishop of the diocese of 
Georgia, in Christ Church, Savannah, 
and under his wise administration the 
great work goes on. In the diocese of 
Georgia thirty-one clergymen minister 
to seventy-three parishes and missions 
with 4,975 communicants; in the dio- 
cese of Atlanta thirty-two clergymen 
minister to sixty parishes and mis- 
sions, containing 5,466 communicants. 
Compare these totals with those with 
which Bishop Elliott began his epis- 
copate in 1841, and see to what suc- 
cess our Church has come in Georgia. 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH 
CAME TO GEORGIA" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

THE author of this article has kindly 
suggested the following books as 
sources of further information: "A 
History of Georgia for Use in Schools," 
by Lawton B. Evans; "A History of 
Georgia," by Bishop Stevens; "Statistics 
of the State of Georgia" and "Historical 
Collections of Georgia" by the Rev. 
George White. Also the Archives of the 
S. P. G. 

For general background any United 
States history will give information as 
to early conditions. Those who have 
access to Tiffany's "History of the Pro- 
testant Episcopal Church in the United 
States of America," will find in Chapter 
X. the story of the Colonial Church in 
Georgia. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Possible points of contact are: (1) 
Who ever heard of John Wesley? How 
many know whether he ever came to 
America? (2) What state of the Union 
bears the name of a King of England. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. Colonial Days. 

1. Tell about the first missionary to 
Georgia? 



2. What two famous men followed 

him? 

3. Give the story of the "Bee Hive" 

Missionary Society. 

4. Tell something of St. Paul's Church, 

Augusta. 
II. Organization. 

1. What was the state of the Church 

in Georgia at the close of the Rev- 
olution? 

2. How did Georgia come in touch 

with the General Convention? 

3. How was the diocese organized? 

4. Who_ took care of it before it had 

a bishop? 

III. Bishop Elliott. 

1. Tell something about Bishop Elliott. 

2. What well-known men did he bring 

into the Church? 

3. What did he do for education? 

4. Give some results of his episcopate. 

IV. Later Days. 

1. What did the Civil War do to Geor- 

gia? 

2. Who was the second bishop? 

3. What were his chief activities? 

4. Name the present dioceses in Geor- 

gia, with their bishops. 

5. What is the present condition of the 

Church in the State of Georgia? 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



81 



Hoto <^«r Cfjurcf) Came to ®uv Country 



XL HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO TENNESSEE 
By the Rev. E. Clowes Chorley, D.D. 



ABOUT the year 1769 a small 
group of farmers from South- 
western Virginia settled on the 
banks of the Watauga River, in a part 
of the country which had been ceded 
to England by the treaty of Fort Stan- 
wix. When the settlement was ef- 
fected it- was supposed that the terri- 
tory was under the government of 
Virginia, whereas it was actually with- 
in the limits of North Carolina. Under 
these circumstances the immigrants 
formed the "Watauga Association, " 
and wrote their own constitution. In 
1777 the district was annexed by 
North Carolina and known as Wash- 
ington County. For a brief period 
this was succeeded by an organization 
known as the State of Franklin, with 
John Sevier as Governor. In 1790 
Kentucky and Tennessee were united 
as "the Territory South of the Ohio." 
Four years later the latter became an 
independent State and was admitted 
to the Union in 1796. 

/. Church Beginnings in 

Tennessee 

The founder of the Church in Ten- 
nessee was James Hervey Otey, who 
afterwards became its first and much- 
loved bishop. He was one of the 
twelve children of Isaac Otey, a Vir- 
ginia farmer and member of the 
House of Burgesses. Rudiments of 
education James received in what was 
then known as an "old field school," 
from which he passed in turn to an 
academy at Bedford and the Univer- 
sity of North Carolina. His coal-black, 
straight hair, and his height of six 
feet and four inches, earned for him 
the nickname of "Cherokee." 



Shortly after his graduation in 1820 
he was appointed to a classical tutor- 
ship in the university. It became part 
of his duty to conduct the daily 
prayers in the college chapel, a task 
which he found increasingly irksome. 
Relief came in the shape of a present 
of a copy of the Book of Common 
Prayer. Using it at first in the chapel 
he was led to study its contents. Study 
led to admiration ; admiration to con- 
viction, and to the end of his life he 
loved to be called "a Prayer Book 
Churchman." At the expiration of 
his tutorship Otey married and re- 
moved to Franklin, Tenn., where he 
opened a school for boys. At the end 
of eighteen months he went back to 
North Carolina and took charge of a 
school at Warrenton. The parish of 
Warrenton was then served by a 
young deacon, William Mercer Green, 
who had been a classmate of Otey's 




ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, ASHWOOD 
Built by Bishop Polk and his three brothers 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



at the university. The combined in- 
fluence of Green and the great Bishop 
of North Carolina, Ravenscroft, led 
Otey into the Church. He was bap- 
tized by his college friend, and after- 
wards confirmed by the bishop in 1824. 
He immediately commenced his prep- 
aration for Holy Orders and was ad- 
mitted by Bishop Ravenscroft on the 
tenth day of October, 1825. 

Immediately after his ordination he 
returned to Tennessee and reopened 
his school at Franklin, about eighteen 
miles from Nashville. To the care 
of this school he at once added the 
establishment of regular Church serv- 
ices, which were held in the - lower 
room of the Masonic Hall. The soil 
was hard and uncongenial. What is 
known to history as "the Great Re- 
vival" had swept through the State 
and left behind it a strong prejudice 
against any form of liturgical wor- 
ship. In after days the bishop de- 
lighted to tell of overhearing a raw- 
boned native say to a companion: 
"Come, let's go and hear that man 
preach and his wife jaw back at 
him ;" an allusion to the fact that Mrs. 
Otey was the only one in the congre- 
gation to make the responses. Unde- 
terred by the fact that there was not 
a single communicant of the Church, 
outside his own family, in the entire 
State, the young deacon buckled on 
his armor and preached the word in 
season and out of season. In addi- 
tion to his services at Franklin he 
rode horseback to Nashville on alter- 
nate Saturdays and preached to a 
congregation of six persons, two only 
of whom were communicants. 

In 1826 the attention of the Domes- 
tic Committee of the Missionary So- 
ciety, which was then but six years 
old, was drawn to Tennessee, and the 
Rev. John Davis was directed to visit 
the State where it was believed that 
many promising fields were open. In 
a letter dated November 12, 1827, 
Mr. Davis reports concerning the 
work at Knoxville : "I organized a 



church on Easter Monday." He 
preached twice on Sundays; in the 
morning to a small number, but in the 
afternoon to a congregation which 
taxed the capacity of the Court House. 
He adds : "They have sometimes 
talked of building a church" — a proj- 
ect which, however, was long delayed. 
During a four weeks' vacation Mr. 
Davis visited Kingston, Columbia, 
Nashville and Franklin, in all of which 
places he found some old Episcopa- 
lians who rejoiced once again to join 
in the services of the Church. At 
Columbia he reports the presence of a 
number of families of wealth and in- 
fluence who "would receive a, mission- 
ary very joyfully and treat him with 
great kindness." At Franklin he 
found an interesting congregation, and 
notes that "they even talk of procur- 
ing an organ this winter." At Nash- 
ville prospects were not so encourag- 
ing. The unworthiness of a tempo- 
rary ministerial supply had worked 
great injury ; so much so, that "the 
prospects of the Church are quite 
blasted for the present." 

The work at Knoxville did not de- 
velop as Mr. Davis hoped. The people 
were engrossed with politics to the ex- 
clusion of all interest in religion. Not 
one dollar was contributed to minis- 
terial support, and the prospects of a 
church building were so remote that 
the missionary decided to remove to 
Columbia, where, with the assistance 
of Mr. Otey, a congregation was or- 
ganized "under auspicious circum- 
stances." Nashville was visited twice, 
and to that important point Mr. Davis 
transferred his residence. The vestry, 
which had been for some time inac- 
tive, resumed its responsibilities and 
the congregation increased consider- 
ably during the winter. In 1829 the 
vestry reported twelve or fourteen 
Church families and a congregation 
of forty to fifty persons. Mr. Davis 
suffered from persistent ill-health, 
and on November 15, 1829, left Ten- 
nessee for Alabama. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



83 



Mr. Otey, meanwhile, having been 
advanced to the priesthood turned to 
his old bishop, Ravenscroft, with an 
urgent request to make an episcopal 
visitation to the scattered congrega- 
tions in Tennessee. The bishop ar- 
rived at "Nashville at the end of June, 
1829, and brought with him the Rev. 
Daniel Stephens, D.D., who immedi- 
ately opened a school at Columbia and 
became rector of the newly organized 
parish of St. Peter's in that town. 
Bishop Ravenscroft did not shrink 
from administering sharp discipline to 
the erring minister at Nashville, and 
promptly suspended him from the ex- 
ercise of his office. Though this was 
at first resented by the vestry, further 
reflection convinced them of the jus- 
tice of the act, and a considerable sum 
of money was raised for a church 
building and the sum of $800 per an- 
num was pledged for a clergyman. 

During the bishop's visit the diocese 
of Tennessee was organized. The 
Convention met in the Masonic Hall, 
Nashville, July 1 and 2. The three 
clergymen — Otey, Davis and Stephens 
— were present, and six laymen. Four 
parishes were received into the union 
with the diocese : Christ, Nashville ; 
St. Peter's, Columbia; St. Paul's, 
Franklin, and St. John's, Knoxville. 
There were about fifty communicants 
in the whole diocese. Not one of the 
churches had its own building. In 
December of that year the Rev. 
George Weller, who had served as 
secretary of the Domestic and Foreign 
Missionary Society, was appointed to 
Nashville, and shortly afterwards 
established a Sunday-school. The 
corner-stone of a church to cost $1,600 
was laid on July 5, 1830, and the build- 
ing was consecrated by Bishop Meade 
of Virginia, July 6, 1831. During the 
visitation of Bishop Meade he laid 
the corner-stone of the churches at 
Franklin and Columbia. The follow- 
ing year a visitation was made by 
Bishop Ives, successor to Ravenscroft 
in North Carolina. It was memorable 



for the fact that John Chilton and 
Samuel George Litton were ordained 
to the sacred ministry. These were the 
first ordinations in Tennessee. At the 
Convention held during the bishop's 
visit, Trinity Church, Clarksville, was 
admitted into the union. 

II. Bishop Otey 
The year 1833 was notable for the 
diocese. In June of that year the dio- 
cesan convention convened at Frank- 
lin and proceeded to elect a bishop. 
There were present the eight clergy- 
men at work in the diocese and nine 
laymen. The choice fell upon James 
Hervey Otey, the pioneer missionary 
of the State. He was consecrated in 
Christ Church, Philadelphia, on Janu- 
ary 14, 1834. Bishop George Wash- 




RT. REV. JAMES H. OTEY, D.D., LL.D. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



ington Doane preached a noble ser- 
mon in the course of which he pointed 
out that : 

''Here is a bishop who has never had 
a church to preach in, and has never 
yet had a living at the altar, but has 
been obliged to labor for his chil- 
dren's bread in the laborious though 
most honorable vocation of teaching; 
spending five days out of seven in a 
school, and for years has not had a 
month's recreation." 

Bishop Otey entered upon a dif- 
ficult work, but his faith and courage 
never faltered. At the outset of his 
episcopate there were in the diocese 
five priests and three deacons, and 
about 117 communicants. Conditions 
severely limited the possibilities of 
quick advancement. For fifteen years 
confirmations did not exceed fifty per 
annum, and in 1844 the diocese had 
only 400 communicants. In 1834 
there was only one church building — ■ 
Christ, Nashville — but that same year 
St. Peter's, Columbia, and St. Paul's, 
Franklin, were opened. Trinity, 
Clarksville, was added in 1838. 

But there was "the sound of the 
wind in the tops of the mulberry 
trees." In January, 1833, the Rev. 
John H. Norment settled at Knoxville 
where the congregation had nominally 
existed for five years. He found the 
greatest difficulty in securing even a 
temporary place of worship, but even- 
tually secured an upper room in the 
court house where he preached to 
gradually increasing congregations. 
The population of Knoxville was then 
about 2,000, and the nearest Episco- 
pal minister was two hundred miles 
distant. Mr. Norment was succeeded 
by a young deacon, Forbes, under 
whose ministry the congregation in- 
creased three-fold. In 1836 there were 
four communicants. In the immediate 
future the work languished through 
lack of a minister, and in 1844 Albert 
Miller Lee, a professor in the East 
Tennessee University, was the only 
communicant left. The work was re- 



established about 1844 by the Rev. 
Charles Tomes, and a building was 
fitted up as a chapel. The following 
year the corner-stone of St. John's 
Church was laid by the bishop, and 
it was consecrated by him in 1848. 

In 1833 three devoted missionaries 
entered upon work in what was known 
as West Tennessee. This was a vast 
district, occupied for the most part 
by people who had migrated from 
North Carolina and Virginia. Otey 
testified that many of them were 
originally Churchmen. Some in de- 
spair had attached themselves to other 
bodies, but "others, looking for conso- 
lation in their Bibles and Prayer 
Books, have stood here, solitary but 
solemn mementoes of the Church of 
their fathers, and have continued to 
hope against hope that God would at 
last hear their sighs and groans." To 
the northern part of this country went 
the Rev. Samuel G. Litton, and estab- 
lished the work at Paris and Hunt- 
ingdon. Mr. Wright and Mr. Chilton 
went out together for a time and 
found good success. The latter or- 
ganized St. Luke's Parish, Jackson, 
and Zion, Brownsville, in each of 
which places services were held in the 
Masonic Hall. Mr. Wright preached 
at La Grange and organized Emanuel 
Church. On August 3, 1833, he ar- 
rived at Memphis, and the following 
day officiated in the academy. On the 
6th, Calvary Church was organized. 
He says of Memphis: "Memphis has 
about 1,200 inhabitants, and it is 
thought by some persons that it will 
in a few years number many thou- 
sand." A little later he writes that 
"the vestry are resolved to build a 
house of worship with as little delay 
as possible, and as an earnest of it, 
the senior warden has engaged to give 
half the necessary lumber." A frame 
building which served as a rectory and 
a chapel was erected, and in 1844 Cal- 
vary Church was consecrated by 
Bishop Otey. It is described as a 
very plain building. "The communion 






85' 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



table was raised high on quite a wide 
platform. The pulpit and reading- 
desk were odd enough to be funny ; 
they looked like pockets on a school- 
girl's apron — just two little balconies 
high up on the wall, with little doors 
behind. The stairway leading to these 
was outside from the vestry." Though 
Memphis grew by leaps and bounds 
this was the only Episcopal Church 
for several years. Towards the close 
of 1852 Bishop Otey removed from 
Franklin to Memphis, which had then 
a population of about ten thousand. 
One of the objects of this removal 
was the organization of another par- 
ish. In his journal of December 12, 
1852, the bishop records the begin- 
nings of this new work: 

'This morning at 11 a. m., I com- 
menced celebrating the worship of 
God in 'High-tower Hall,' a room over 
an oyster-saloon, and having also a 
dancing-academy in an adjacent apart- 
ment. The hall is to be used as a 
billiard-room during the week, while 
it is appropriated to Divine Worship 
on Sunday. The association is cer- 
tainly by no means desirable. But it 
seems that we can do no better; and 
the question arises: Shall we worship 
in the house of Rimmon, or not wor- 
ship at all?" 

As a result of this effort Grace 
Church was organized, and St. 
Mary's Chapel, in another part of the 
city, was consecrated in 1858. 

It is impossible to follow the vary- 
ing fortunes of the Church in the 
State in any detail. Discouragements 
were many, and progress was slow. 
Some of the parishes were dormant, 
and others went on for years before 
they obtained church buildings. In 
1833 Leonidas Polk settled at Co- 
lumbia and remained there until his 
election as Missionary Bishop of the 
Southwest Territory, in 1838. To the 
care of his extensive diocese Bishop 
Otey added, for a time, Mississippi, 
Arkansas and the Indian Territory, 
and journeyed thousands of miles. 



///. The War and After 
The Diocesan Convention of 1861 
met at Somerville just one month after 
the outbreak of the Civil War. That 
memorable conflict had a disastrous 
effect upon the Church in Tennessee. 
Parochial buildings were turned into 
store-houses, stables, barracks and 
hospitals. Many of the parishes were 
vacated and not a few of the clergy 
served in the Confederate army as 
chaplains. The strain proved too 
much for the weakened frame of the 
bishop, and on April 23, 1863, he 
entered into rest, faintly whispering 
the words of the Lord's Prayer. 

Not until 1865 were the scattered 
forces of the diocese able to gather 
for corporate counsel, and on Thurs- 
day, September 7, the Rev. Charles 
Todd Quintard, M.D., was elected as 
the successor of Bishop Otey. Born 
in Connecticut in 1824, the new bishop 
was a graduate of Columbia College, 
and obtained the degree of M.D. from 
New York University. For a time he 
practiced medicine at Athens, Ga. In 
1851 he removed to Memphis and 
there became a close friend of Bishop 
Otey, by whom he was influenced to 
enter the ministry. His diaconate was 
spent doing hard missionary work in 
Tipton County; on his advancement 
to the priesthood he became rector of 




BISHOP. QUINTARD 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



Calvary Church, Memphis, and after- 
wards of the Church of the Advent, 
Nashville. On the outbreak of the 
war he became chaplain of the First 
Tennessee Regiment, and served in 
that capacity for four years. His 
graphic story of his experiences was 
published in 1905 under the editorship 
of the Rev. Arthur Howard Noll. He 
entered on the difficult work of re- 
organizing the Church in Tennessee 
with an ardor and enthusiasm which 
never abated. A preacher of command- 
ing ability, a profound believer in the 
principles of the Tractarian Move- 
ment, gifted with a winning personal- 
ity, and a tireless worker, he restored 
the years that the locust had eaten. 
In the work for the negroes he took a 
strong personal interest, and always 
insisted upon confirming the black 
man with the white, although severely 
criticised for so doing. He justified 
his action by quoting the words of 
Bishop Coxe: 

u Our mother, the Church, hath never 
a child 

To honor before the rest, 

But she singeth the same for mighty 
kings 

And the veriest babe on her breast; 

And the bishop goes down to his nar- 
row bed 

As a ploughman's child is laid, 

And alike she blesseth the dark- 
browed serf 

And the chief in his robe arrayed." 

For thirty-four years Bishop Quin- 
tard ruled his diocese prudently. His 
efforts to secure the division of the 
diocese and the creation of a new dio- 
cese for West Tennessee failed to se- 
cure the consent of the General Con- 
vention, and on April 20, 1893, Thomas 
Frank Gailor, vice-chancellor of the 
University of the South, was unani- 
mously elected assistant bishop of the 
diocese. Early in 1898 Bishop Quin- 
tard died, full of years and honor, and 
Bishop Gailor became the diocesan. 



IV. The University of the South 
The University of the South is 
geographically within the confines of 
the diocese of Tennessee, but it is far 
more than a diocesan institution. It 
owes its beginnings to two men, close 
friends and brother bishops — Otey 
and Polk — although their efforts were 
warmly seconded by others, notably 
Bishops Atkinson, Green, Cobbs, 
Gregg and Elliott. 

From the outset of his episcopate 
Bishop Otey cherished the dream of a 
great educational institution for the 
Southwest, and his dream was shared 
to the full by Leonidas Polk. The 
financial depression of 1837 arrested 
an ambitious scheme for the estab- 
lishment of Madison University, for 
which a liberal charter had already 
been obtained. Not until 1857 was 
the dream realized. On the fourth 
day of July the bishops of eight 
Southern dioceses, together with rep- 
resentative laymen, gathered on the 
summit of Lookout Mountain, near 
Chattanooga, to organize the new in- 
stitution. The address was delivered 
by Bishop Otey ; at its close the name, 
University of the South, was sug- 
gested, and was formally adopted at 
a meeting held in October. The site 
selected was an uninhabited mountain 
top, heavily wooded and well watered 
everywhere. On the 10th day of Octo- 
ber, 1860, in the presence of five thou- 
sand people, Bishop Polk laid the 
corner-stone. Ten thousand acres of 
land had been conveyed to the trus- 
tees, and within three months more 
than half a million dollars had been 
subscribed. 

Then came the Civil War with its 
blighting influences. During its dura- 
tion three of the bishops — Cobbs, Polk 
and Otey — who had been most active 
in founding the university, died, and 
the Southern dioceses were grievously 
impoverished. When Bishop Quintard 
visited Lookout Mountain at the close 
of the war in 1865, he found the gar- 
den turned int© a wilderness. The 




PANORAMA OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH 



buildings were in ashes ; even the cor- 
ner-stone being smashed into frag- 
ments. The splendid endowment had 
been swept away, and for a time there 
seemed to be no 'hope of reviving the 
work. 

One year later, however, some at- 
tempt was made, and a grammar 
school was opened at Sewanee. Little 
by little the waste places were re- 



stored. The academic department was 
organized in 1871 ; the theological 
school followed five years later. A 
medical department was inaugurated 
1892, and a law school one year 



in 



later. When the plans of the trustees 
are carried into effect the University 
of the South will possess a group of 
buildings worthy of the ideals of its 
founders. 



"HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO TENNESSEE' 

CLASS WORK 



IN 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

THE author of this article has kindly 
suggested the following books as 
sources of further information: "History 
of the Diocese of Tennessee," Rev. Ar- 
thur Howard Noll; "Memoir of the Rt. 
Rev. James Hervey Otey, D.D., LL.D.," 
Rt. Rev. Wm. Mercer Green, Bishop of 
Mississippi; "Doctor Quintard, Chaplain 
C.S.A., and Second Bishop of Tennessee, 
Being His Story of the War," edited by 
Rev. Arthur Howard Noll. See also the 
"Biography of Bishop Polk" and the re- 
ports of the Domestic and Foreign Mis- 
sionary Society from 1826 onward. 

In addition to these, use some general 
history. With regard to the general con- 
ditions in Kentucky and Tennessee, a life 
of Daniel Boone, and Theodore Roose- 
velt's "Winning of the West" will be 
useful. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Ask a younger class whether they 
know of any state whose name contains 
no vowel except "e." An older class 
might be asked about the battle of Look- 
out Mountain, which can be connected 
with the establishment of the University 
of the South. 



TEACHING THE LESSON 

I. Church Beginnings in Tennessee. 

1. What was the Watauga Association? 

2. Tell about the early days of James 
Hervey Otey. 

3. How did he come into the Church? 

4. Tell about the missionary work of 
the Rev. John Davis. 

II. Bishop Otey. 

1. How many persons elected Bishop 
Otey? 

2. How did the bishop support him- 
self? 

3. Where did he finally remove? 

4. Tell about some of the places of 
worship used. 

III. The War and After. 

1. What^ was the effect of the Civil 
War in Tennessee? 

2. Tell of the death of Bishop Otey. 

3. Who was Bishop Quintard? 

4. How did he feel about the Negroes? 

IV. The University of the South. 

1. When and where was the corner- 
stone of the University of the South 
laid? 

2. Tell of its early promise. 

3. What did Bishop Quintard find after 
the war? . 

4. What is its present condition? 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



Hoto <^«r Cijurtfj Came to ®uv Country 



XII. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO CALIFORNIA 

By the Rev. Frank H. Church 
Editor Pacific Churchman, San Francisco 




Introduction 

"N Golden Gate 
Park, San Fran- 
cisco, on an emi- 
nence, stands a 
large Iona Cross, 
erected by the 
late George W. 
Childs, Esq., a 
friend and vestryman 
in Philadelphia of the 
present Bishop of 
California. It com- 
memorates a great 
event in the Church's 
history — the 
first use of the 
Prayer Book 
in the New 
World. 
Sir Francis Drake, a loyal subject 
of England, alert to advance her in- 
terests and seeking to add new worlds 
to her domains, was cruising on the 
Pacific coast in the spring of 1579 in 
the good ship Golden Hinde, seeking 
a safe harbor for cleaning ship and 
for learning something of this new 
country, which no doubt he hoped to 
present to his sovereign. He sailed 
past the entrance of what is now 
known as the Bay of San Francisco — 
the largest and best harbor in America 
— and on returning down the coast 
entered "False Bay," afterward named 
"Drake's Bay," and landed on the 
shore of Point Reyes, twenty miles 
north of the Golden Gate. 

The Rev. Francis Fletcher, Drake's 
chaplain and chronicler of the voyage, 



in "The World Encompassed" thus 
describes the first service : "Our Gen- 
eral with his companie, in the presence 
of those strangers (the Indians) fell 
to prayers; and by signs in lifting up 
our eyes and hands to heaven, signi- 
fied unto them that God whom we 
did serve and whom they ought to 
worship, was above ; Jesus being God, 
if it were His good pleasure to open 
by some means their blinded eyes, that 
they might in due time be called to 
the knowledge of Him, the true and 
ever-living God, and Jesus Christ 
whom He hath sent, the salvation of 
the Gentiles. In the time of which 
prayers, singing of psalms, and read- 
ing of certain chapters of the Bible, 
they sat very attentive." 

In June, 1892, Bishop Nichols, ac- 
companied by his two sons and three 
of his presbyters, visited the region 
with the purpose of locating the prob- 
able place of the landing and the hold- 
ing of the first service in the United 
States from the Book of Common 
Prayer. A brief service was held and 
a simple wooden cross erected, with 
an inscription. The Bishop had previ- 
ously suggested the erection of a 
permanent monument, memorial of 
this significant event. His suggestion, 
in some fugitive way, reached Mr. 
Childs, who offered to defray the ex- 
pense. Plans were made for the erec- 
tion of the "Prayer Book Cross" on 
the spot. But the park commissioners 
of San Francisco, realizing the re- 
moteness of Drake's Bay from civili- 
zation, and that a monument erected 







How Our Church Came to Our Country 



there would seldom be seen, offered a 
site in Golden Gate Park, and the 
cross was erected there with this in- 
scription : 

A memorial of the service 
held on the shore of Drake's 
Bay about St. John Baptist's 
Day, June 24, 1579, by Francis 
Fletcher, Priest of the Church 
of England, Chaplain of Sir 
Francis Drake, Chronicler of the 
Service. 

First Christian Service in the 
English Tongue on our Coast. 

First use of Book of Common 
Prayer in Our Country. 

One of the First Recorded 
Missionary Prayers on Our Con- 
tinent. 

Soli Deo Sit Semper Gloria 

Gift of George W. Childs, Esq., 

of Philadelphia 

Every year, at the foot of this 
Cross, a service is held under the 
auspices of the House of Church- 
women. 

/. Pioneers of the Church 

Under the title "The Church's First 
Pioneer on the Shores of the Wide 
Pacific," it is recorded in The Spirit 
of Missions for October, 1847, that 
"the Rev. T. M. Leavenworth, a pres- 
byter of the Diocese of New York, 
sailed from that city in the autumn of 
1846 as chaplain and surgeon to the 
ship Brutus, chartered by the United 
States government for California," 
probably to bring Col. J. D. Stevenson 
and his regiment to the coast. His 
first letter to friends tells of a service 
(probably the first non-Roman serv- 
ice held in California since that of 
Drake's Bay) on Sunday, March 17, 
1847. It will be remembered that 
California was not then a part of the 
United States. 

There were many intelligent and 
devout Churchmen among the pioneers 
of '48 and '49, coming from every 
part of the east, north and south, and 



they longed for the ministrations of 
the Church. Therefore, in the fall of 
1848 six of the most influential 
Churchmen in San Francisco peti- 
tioned the General Board of Missions 
in New York to send a missionary, 
promising his support ; and in Novem- 
ber the Board appointed the Rev. J. 
L. H. Ver Mehr. In The Spirit of 
Missions for December, 1848, is pub- 
lished a letter from him asking the 
co-operation of the clergy. His de- 
parture was delayed for two months 
by an attack of smallpox, but he took 
passage on a steamer sailing February 
8, 1849, via Cape Horn. 

In the meantime other San Fran- 
cisco Churchmen, doubtless ignorant 
of the above request and appointment, 
had organized "Holy Trinity Church" 
and commissioned certain persons in 
New York to send them a rector. 
They chose the Rev. j Flavel Scott 
Mines. Coming by waf of Panama 
he arrived in San Francisco two 
months ahead of Dr. Ver Mehr and 
began services in July, 1849, in the 
First Trinity Church at Jackson and 
Powell Streets. 

When Dr. Ver Mehr arrived he 
found his field occupied, but began 
services in a private house, and those 
who had asked for his appointment 
organized Grace Church April 28, 
1850. The first Grace Church was 
located within a block of Holy Trin- 
ity, but the two rectors became warm 
friends, and there was no apparent 
friction between the parishes. 

Late in 1851 the name of the first 
parish was changed to "Trinity," and 
a second church, of corrugated iron, 
but called "The Tin Church," was 
erected on Pine street. Mr. Mines 
died August 5, 1852; his body was 
laid to rest under the chancel of the 
new church and later removed to the 
next new church at Post and Powell 
and a memorial tablet placed, both 
being removed later to the present 
church. Mr. Mines was succeeded by 
the Rev. Christopher B. Wyatt. 



91 




DRAKE'S BAY, CALIFORNIA 

The site of the first Prayer-Book service on this continent 



In about a year the Board of Mis- 
sions seems to have withdrawn its 
recognition of California as a mission- 
ary field, and left the Church there 
to its own resources. Mr. Mines was 
then in the grip of rapidly develop- 
ing consumption, but he and Dr. Ver 
Mehr began to plan for organizing 
the Church. It was finally decided to 
call a convention of clergy and laity to 
organize a diocese. 

II. Securing a Bishop 

The convention met in Holy Trin- 
ity Church July 24, 1850; it held 




BISHOP KIP 



eight evening and two morning ses- 
sions, in which six clergy and thirteen 
laymen participated. Canons were 
adopted for the governance of 'The 
Church in California." The Right 
Rev. Horatio Southgate, who had just 
resigned as bishop of the American 
Church in Constantinople, was elected 
Bishop of California, but he declined. 

The second convention met May 4, 
1853, with only four clergy and four 
parishes represented : Grace and Trin- 
ity, San Francisco; Grace, Sacra- 
mento; St. John's, Stockton. This 
convention resolved to send delegates 
to the General Convention in October 
to ask to be received into the union. 
Two laymen went, but were not rec- 
ognized. It also appointed a com- 
mittee on missions, "to endeavor to 
establish posts at points of importance 
in the State." 

While the General Convention of 
1853 did not admit the Church in 
California into union, it did elect the 
Rev. William Ingraham Kip, rector of 
St. Peter's, Albany, N. Y., as mission- 
ary bishop of California. He was 
consecrated on SS. Simon and Jude's 
Day, October 28, 1853, and sailed 
December 20, via Panama. The ship 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



being wrecked he landed in San Diego, 
held his first service there on January 
21, 1854, and reached San Francisco 
on Sunday, January 29. Within three 
hours of his arrival Bishop Kip was 
officiating and preaching at Trinity 
Church, and from that time, through 
an episcopate which covered nearly 
forty years, he was the champion and 
the upbuilder of the Church in his great 
field. His successor in the episcopate 
says of him : "His noble character has 
left its impress at many points upon 
the diocese to which, under God, he 
gave shape, and in his commanding 
and genial presence the Church was 
blest with the power to confront and 
overcome many difficulties which be- 
set her in those early days." 

In 1856 the diocese was admitted 
into union with the General Con- 
vention, and at a convention held Feb- 
ruary 5, 1857, in Grace Church, -Sac- 
ramento, Bishop Kip was elected dio- 
cesan. He died on April 7, 1893, and 
Mrs. Kip just five months later. Their 
bodies rest at the foot of the lofty 
Iona cross of granite at the entrance 
to Iona church yard in Cypress Lawn 
Cemetery. 

III. Divisions of the Diocese 

In 1871 Bishop Kip, feeling his in- 
ability properly to administer the rap- 
idly increasing Church in both the 
upper and lower parts of the State, 
urged the division of the diocese, to 
which the General Convention of 1874 
responded by erecting the missionary 
jurisdiction of Northern California, 
and electing the Rev. John Henry 
Duchachet Wingfield as its bishop. 
Bishop Wingfield died July 27, 1898, 
and the General Convention of that 
year elected the Rev. William Hall 
Moreland, rector of St. Luke's, San 
Francisco, as missionary bishop of 
Sacramento, as the district was to be 
henceforth known. He was conse- 
crated January 25, 1899, the first Epis- 
copal consecration on the Pacific coast. 

As Bishop Kip advanced in years 



and his health and eyesight failed, the 
question of a still further division of 
the diocese loomed up. The fast- 
growing section around Los Angeles, 
with a population of 200,000, asked 
for a division; Bishop Kip approved, 
and a committee was appointed to con- 
sider the situation. There was a feel- 
ing in the north that the time for divi- 
sion had not yet come, but its advo- 
cates carried the day, and in the con- 
vention of 1895 the diocese of Los 
Angeles was set off. At its primary 
convention, December 3, 1895, the 
Rev. Joseph Horsfall Johnson, rector 
of Christ Church, Detroit, was elected 
bishop. His consecration took place 
on St. Matthias' Day, 1896. 

A third division of the diocese was 
made in 1910, when the General Con- 
vention erected the missionary dis- 
trict of San Joaquin, and elected the 
Rev. Louis Childs Sanford, secretary 
of the Eighth Department, as its 
bishop. He was consecrated January 
25, 1911, and made Fresno his see 
city, with St. James' Church as the 
pro-cathedral. 

In the development of the Church 
in California which made these divi- 
sions possible, there were many who 
did yeoman service, of whom a few 
only may be mentioned here. In the 
northern part of the State the Rev. 
William H. Hill was first a mountain 
and mining camp missionary. In 1856 
he took hold of Grace parish, Sacra- 
mento, and rescued it from collapse, 
remaining with it for fourteen years; 
in 1870 he again took the road, up and 
down the State, holding services and 
preparing the way for the future 
establishment of missions. Charles 
Caleb Pierce, whom Bishop Moreland 
calls "a modern St. Francis," rendered 
a type of service unique and beauti- 
ful. On Sunday the duties of his 
parish at Placerville claimed him, but 
•Monday morning found him on the 
trail. Thus for forty-two years he 
tramped from hamlet to hamlet and 
from camp to camp, a familiar and 



93 




TRINITY CHURCH, SAN FRANCISCO, 1849 
The three women in the picture represent the entire female membership of the congregation at that time 



loved figure everywhere, to minister 
to the needs of the scattered Church 
folk of El Dorado County. Every 
house was his home and he was friend 
and helper of all. The veteran pio- 
neer and educator, James Lloyd 
Breck, spent the last nine years of his 
remarkable life here. With the help 
of an associate mission, whose mem- 
bers he brought from the East, he 
founded St. Augustine's College and 
a school for girls at Benicia. The 
schools are no longer in existence, but 
many of the parishes and missions of 
the present Diocese of Sacramento 
owe their origin to this band of de- 
voted men. 

The Rev. Alfred Lee Brewer, mis- 
sionary and educator, established St. 
Matthew's School for boys at San 
Mateo and took an active part in 
formulating the missionary policy of 
the diocese. The Rev. Douglas O. 
Kelley was the pioneer in the San 
Joaquin valley. The Rev. James S. 
McGowan also labored long here, or- 
ganizing a number of missions and 
building seven churches. Among the 
leaders in Southern California were 
the Rev. A. G. L. Trew, the Rev. John 
A. Emery, now Archdeacon of Cali- 



fornia, and the Rev. Henry Bond 
Restarick, who developed the Church 
in San Diego County. The last- 
named in now widely known as Bishop 
of Honolulu. He was consecrated in 
his own church, San Diego, on Tuly 
2, 1902. 

IV. The Present Diocese 

The diocese of California, regard- 
less of these amputations, has devel- 
oped a thoroughly organized mission- 
ary system under the wise leadership 
of _ Bishop Nichols and his faithful 
adjutant, Archdeacon John A. Emery, 
whose whole ministry of thirty-six 
years has been in California. The 
first ''Cathedral Mission of the Good 
Samaritan" was begun in 1894 by the 
Rev. William Ingraham Kip, 3d, 
grandson of the first bishop, known 
as "Canon Kip," who gave his whole 
life and effort to the development of 
the spiritual and institutional work 
"south of Market Street." He died 
October 1, 1902. 

In April, 1906, an unparalleled 
disaster overtook the diocese and 
State of California, such as has 
scarcely been known in our time. An 
earthquake, followed by fire, utterly 



194 




£ - '$ 

Ah S o 

en « *• 

O . <a 

g S--9 



95 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



DIOCESE OF SACRAMENTO 



In the four ecclesiastical divisions 
of California, the reports of 1915 
showed a total of 250 clergy min- 
istering to 274 parishes and mis- 
sions, numbering 27,962 communi- 
cants. 




DISTRICT OF 
SAN JOAQUIN 



DIOCESE OF 
CALIFORNIA 



DIOCESE OF 
LOS ANGELES 



wrecked large portions of San Fran- 
cisco and did great damage in other 
parts of the State. The people and 
buildings of the Good Samaritan Mis- 
sion were swept away and the work 
was re-established in the Potrero by 
the Rev. J. P. Turner. In 1911 an- 
other mission was inaugurated on the 
old site and called 'The Canon Kip 
Memorial Mission." Both missions 
minister to the physical and spiritual 
needs of their neighborhood. Chapels, 



day nurseries, dispensaries and clubs 
of every description bring young and 
old under the fostering care of the 
Church. 

Another phase of the cathedral mis- 
sionary work is that of the Bishop's 
secretary, the Rev. W. M. Bours, who 
ministers to the inmates of the city 
and county institutions. By him the 
Gospel is preached to hundreds every 
week, individually and in groups, and 
scores are brought each year to bap- 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



tism and confirmation. A valuable 
activity is 'The Bishop's Aid for 
Boys," under the care of the Rev. 
George Maxwell. Aside from help 
given to floating youths seeking em- 
ployment, he maintains St. Andrew's 
Inn, for boys at work or attending 
school who have no homes, besides 
summer camps for boys and girls. 

A promising work among Chinese 
is carried on at the 'True Sunshine" 
Mission in San Francisco, and at Oak- 
land, across the bay. There is also a 
Japanese mission. 

Space will not permit an extended 
account of St. Luke's Hospital. 



The building of the cathedral which 
will be the centre of these activities 
has been begun by the erection upon 
the magnificent site given by the 
Crocker family, of the "Founders' 
Crypt." The crypt is well equipped 
for services with a splendid organ and 
choir. The nave and choir seat up- 
ward of 1,500. Around the cathedral 
close stand the new Church Divinity 
School and temporary buildings for 
the Dean's House, Diocesan House and 
Grace Chapel. The whole when fin- 
ished will stand as the culmination of 
the devoted work of the present 
Bishop of California. 



HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO CALIFORNIA" IN 
CLASS WORK 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

THE "History of the Diocese of Cali- 
fornia," by the Rev. D. O. Kelley, 
one of its veteran priests, will be found 
most instructive. It may be obtained 
from the Diocesan House, 1217 Sacra- 
mento Street, San Francisco, or from 
a public library. "Early Days of My 
Episcopate" by Bishop Kip, is unfortu- 
nately out of print, but copies may still 
be found in the libraries. Chapter VI. 
of "The Conquest of the Continent," 
Burleson, gives a picturesque glimpse of 
the early days of the diocese. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

The Panama Exposition is a good 
point of contact. It is very probable 
that some of your class have been there. 
If so, ask them to tell some of the in- 
teresting things they saw. Also find 
out what they know about the "forty- 
niners." Nothing in our country's his- 
tory has been such a fruitful theme for 
romance as the wild rush across the con- 
tinent for gold. Numberless books have 
been written about it. A good one for 
the young is "The Boy Emigrants" by 
Noah Brooks. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
Introduction. 

What does the Prayer Book Cross 
commemorate and how did it come 
to be erected? 



I. Pioneers of the Church. 

1. By whom was the first Church serv- 
ice (after that of Sir Francis Drake's 
chaplain) held in California? 

2. Whom did the Board of Missions 
appoint to work in California? 

3. Tell something about the Rev. 
Flavel Scott Mines and his "tin 
church." 

II. Securing a Bishop. 

1. When and where did the first dio- 
cesan convention meet? 

2. Whom did it elect as bishop? 

3. Who was the first missionary bishop 
in California? 

4. Tell about his episcopate. 

III. Divisions of the Diocese. 

1. Which part of the State was first 
set off, and what is it called now? 

2. Why did Bishop Kip ask for a sec- 
ond division of his diocese? 

3. When was the third division made? 

4. What can you say of some of the 
pioneers in the Church? 

IV. The Present Diocese. 

1. What mission in San Francisco was 
founded by the grandson of Bishop 
Kip? 

2. What is Bishop Nichols doing for 
poor boys? 

3. Tell something about the cathedral 
and its work. 

4. Name the four dioceses and dis- 
tricts in the State of California, 
and tell the names of their present 
bishops. 



! 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



9 



i>oto <^ur Cfmrdf) Came to ®uv Country 



XIII. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO MISSOURI 
By the Rev. E. Clowes Chorley, D.D. 



I. Early Days 

MISSOURI became part of 
the United States of America 
through the Louisiana Pur- 
chase in 1803. Its oldest town was St. 
Genevieve, founded in 1755. Its real 
development, prior to the American 
occupation, began with the visit, in 
1763, of Peter Laclede Liguest, a 
French merchant of New Orleans, 
who had obtained from the French 
Governor-General a grant of a mo- 
nopoly of the fur trade with the Mis- 
souri Indians. The following year 
Auguste Chouteau, with thirty me- 
chanics, cleared land on the banks of 
the river and erected some substantial 
log houses. In honor of Louis XV 
the place was named St. Louis. 

When the first American Governor 
arrived there were only two American 
families residing in the town, but 
others were living outside the stock- 
ade. There were in all 180 houses, 
scattered over three streets, and a 
population of about 1,800. Mail ar- 
rived once a month. As might be ex- 
pected from a settlement so thoroughly 
French, the first religious services 
were those of the Roman Church. An 
entry of 1766 records a baptism which 
took place in a tent, and for the next 
six years a Roman priest visited the 
infant town twice yearly. In 1772, 
Father Valentine took up his residence 
there, and four years later the first 
church was built. No Protestant min- 
ister appeared until 1816. In that year 
the Rev. Solomon Giddings rode 
horseback all the way from Connecti- 
cut and organized the first Presby- 



terian Church. In 1818, the Baptists 
came on the ground', and one year later 
the first minister of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church arrived. 

The early story of the Church in 
Missouri falls into two definite periods 
— the period of spasmodic effort, and 
the period of organized work. 

77. Spasmodic Efforts 

The Domestic and Foreign Mission- 
ary Society was formally organized 
in 1820, but for reasons beyond the 
pale of this article its active opera- 
tions were delayed. The earliest mis- 
sionaries in the West were not mis- 
sionaries of the Society. They were 
private adventurers ; men who had the 
instinct for going forth into strange 




BISHOP CICERO S. HAWKS 






How Our Church Came to Our Country 



lands — for such was the West then. 
Most of them maintained themselves 
by means of schools, and at the same 
time conducted church services. 

To this class belonged the Rev. John 
Ward, who came to St. Louis from 
Lexington, "Ky., in 1819. Mr. Ward 
had served for a time as rector of 
Christ Church, Lexington, which had 
been organized in 1809. How he came 
to Missouri we do not know, but he 
arrived there in September, and almost 
immediately held a service in the First 
Baptist Church. This was the first 
public service of the Church west of 
the Mississippi River. The population 
of the city was then about 5,000. A 
few weeks later the services were 
transferred to a one-story frame build- 
ing, generally used as a dance hall, at 
the corner of Second and Walnut 
Streets. There were few Church- 
people. It is said that at the first 
service the congregation numbered six, 
of whom but two had prayer books. 

Nevertheless, steps were taken at 
once to organize a parish. A sub- 
scription paper was circulated, the first 
paragraph of which read as follows: 

"We, the undersigned, taking into 
view the great benefits that ourselves 
and families would derive from the 
establishment of an Episcopal Church 
in the town of St. Louis, do hereby 
form ourselves into a congregation, 
and bind ourselves to pay over to such 
persons as shall be appointed by the 
vestry hereafter to be chosen, all such 
sums as shall be found opposite to 
our names, to be applied towards the 
support of the church for one year 
from this date." 

This document, which now hangs in 
the vestry of Christ Church Cathe- 
dral, is dated November 1, 1819. It 
appears to have been signed by many 
who were not Church-people, and the 
subscriptions amounted to $1,654. The 
vestry was elected in December, and 
on January 10, 1820, Mr. Ward was 
elected rector of Christ Church. A 
suitable place of worship was secured 



and a pulpit and pews placed therein. 

Just when the work seemed most 
promising Mr. Ward resigned and re- 
turned to Lexington, where he lived 
until his death in 1860. With his de- 
parture the work of the parish came 
to an abrupt end. The place of wor- 
ship was abandoned and the pulpit 
and the pews were sold to the Metho- 
dists. The parish had lived just sev- 
enteen months. 

The only record for the next two 
years is that of an occasional service. 
When the Missionary Society was es- 
tablished little was known of the 
religious and social conditions of the 
West. Hence, in 1823, the Rev. Amos 
G. Baldwin was appointed an agent 
of the Society to visit the Western 
states and territories. In the course 
of his journeys he visited parts of 
Missouri and held service in St. Louis. 

As a direct outcome of his visit the 
Society, on September 30, 1823, sent 
its first missionary to Missouri, in the 
person of the Rev. Thomas Horrell, 
who had previously labored in Vir- 
ginia. For the first year this devoted 
servant of Christ seems to have pros- 
pected in the rural districts, where he 
writes that he met with good success. 
The greatest obstacle to his work he 
found to be the fear that the Church 
would not or could not hold her 
ground. He was her only representa- 
tive in the entire state, and those who 
were inclined to his ministrations hesi- 
tated because there was no "assurance 
that the ordinances will be perpetuated 
among them." The missionary felt 
the force of the objection, and, keenly 
alive to the opportunity, he appealed 
for "the counsels and support of a 
fellow-laborer." Alas ! the infant 
Society lacked the means to respond. 

Towards the close of 1825 Mr. Hor- 
rell removed to St. Louis and en- 
deavored to revive the parish there. 
He met with no encouragement. The 
memory of the failure was still fresh. 
He found that the "most pious of the 
Episcopalians had joined other socie- 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



99 



ties, despairing of ever obtaining a 
minister of their own." It was the 
story of Western Pennsylvania and 
Ohio over again. Those who desired 
the restoration of church services 
feared that the obstacles were insur- 
mountable. Even Mr. Horrell de- 
spaired, and cast about for some other 
more favorable field. He stayed in 
St. Louis only because there was no 
other place to go. 

It was, however, the darkness which 
precedes the dawn. By persistent ef- 
fort a small congregation was gath- 
ered, and on December 2, 1825, a new 
vestry was elected. A place of wor- 
ship formerly used by the Baptists 
was secured and suitably furnished. 
In a jubilant letter to the Society the 
missionary reported an increasing con- 
gregation marked by "respectful atten- 
tion to the services of the sanctuary," 
and adds that he had once admin- 
istered the Holy Communion to seven 
persons, of whom four "had never 
communed in any place before." He 
notes, "our prospects brighten daily; 
those who at first were despondent 
are now sanguine of success." The 
congregation, however, 
stood greatly in need of 
a church building. The 
cold of winter compelled 
removal to a nearby 
schoolroom. 

In June, 1826, land at 
the corner of Third and 
Chestnut Streets was se- 
cured for $400, and a 
building, 45x55, was com- 
menced. Then began a 
long struggle for means to 
build the church. The 
congregation contributed 
$2,000, and Mr. Horrell 
personally collected $700 
in New York and Phila- 
delphia, but the combined 
amounts were inadequate. 
The temper of the com- 
munity was such that it 
was almost impossible 



to borrow money to complete the 
structure. In a pathetic letter to the 
Board of Missions the vestry said: 
"Everything we can rake and scrape 
is swallowed up by the building itself 
... as money is in such demand here 
(10 per cent, interest) and churches 
are so little in demand that we cannot 
raise the necessary money that way." 
Only by the willingness of prospective 
pew-holders to advance the price of 
their pews was the needed amount ob- 
tained. The following advertisement 
which appeared in the public press 
marks the final success : 

"The vestry offer for sale on Thurs- 
day morning next at 10 o'clock, the 
pews in the Episcopal Church at St. 
Louis, at the corner of Chestnut and 
Third. The church, which is hand- 
somely furnished, will be opened on 
that day, and the terms of sale then 
made known." 

November 10, 1829, was the date of 
opening. A contemporary describes 
it as "a neat little building, . . . but 
looking more like an academy than a 
church; having forty-eight pews capa- 
ble of seating 250 persons, with a gal- 




OLD CHRIST CHURCH, ST. LOUIS 







How Our Church Came to Our Country 



lery at one end, in which is a most 
excellent organ." 

In 1831, Mr. Horrell removed to 
Columbia, Tenn. He returned to Mis- 
souri nine years later, and in 1845 had 
charge of the parish at St. Charles. He 
died in 1850. After his departure serv- 
ices were for a time conducted by the 
Rev. John Davis, principal of a female 
academy in St. Louis. The Society 
then appointed as its missionary the 
Rev. L. H. Corson, who labored for 
one year and then removed to Wind- 
ham County, Conn. He was succeeded 
by the Rev. William Chadderton, who 
came from Burlington, N. J. During 
his stay Christ Church was conse- 
crated, May 25, 1834, by Bishop B. B. 
Smith, of Kentucky, who also con- 
firmed twenty-six persons. This was 
the first church consecrated west of 
the Mississippi and north of New 
Orleans. Mr. Chadderton terminated 
his ministry in St. Louis in 1835, and 
the sheep were again left without a 
shepherd. 

777. Organized Work 

The period of organized effort dates 
from 1835. In time to come it will be 
seen that 1835 was by far the most 
important year in the storied history 
of our Church in the United States of 
America. For it was then that the 
Church rose for the first time to the 
true measure of her corporate respon- 
sibility. For twenty-five years the 
work of Missions had been delegated 
to a Society within the Church. In 
1835, the Church herself zuas declared 
to be the Missionary Society, and 
every baptised person a member 
thereof. That declaration revolution- 
ized our missionary work. 

The immediate outcome was the 
election by the General Convention of 
that year of the first domestic mis- 
sionary bishops. The vast territories 
to the west were grouped into two mis- 
sionary districts: the South-west, 
which included the state of Louisiana 
and the territories of Arkansas and 



Florida; and the North-west, which 
embraced the two states of Indiana 
and Missouri. Over the latter Jack- 
son Kemper was elected missionary 
bishop. It was an ideal choice. For 
years he had played a large part in 
the development of the missionary 
policy of the Church. Brought up 
under the strong influence of Bishop 
Hobart, and a colleague of Bishop 
White, he combined sound scholarship 
with ardent enthusiasm and undaunted 
courage. . 

It was no easy task to which he was 
called. Writing in 1838, he said, 
''The Missionary ground to which I 
was called by the General Convention 
included two states. ... At the time 
of my consecration . . . Missouri 
contained an Episcopal Church (Christ 
Church, St. Louis) but not one clergy- 
man; while in Indiana there was a 
youthful missionary (the Rev. Air. 
Hoyt at Indianapolis), but not a stone, 
brick or log had been laid towards the 
erection of a place of public worship 
for our denomination. And it is said 
that the venerable Bishop Chase, 
whose long residence had made him 
intimately acquainted with the West, 
considered Indiana lost to the Church 
in consequence of our long neglect." 

The population of Missouri at the 
time Kemper entered on his work was 
about 130,000. Outside of St. Louis 
there was hardly a town of any size. 
Jefferson City, the state capital, had a 
population of only 1,000, and most of 
the so-called towns were appreciably 
smaller. Moreover, the people were 
not responsive to the message and 
polity of the Church. Missouri had 
been largely settled from Kentucky 
and they were mostly Baptists and 
Campbellites. It was hard ground. 
One of the missionaries wrote the 
Society saying, "Missouri is the hard- 
est soil in the United States. There is 
less fruit — save in St. Louis — in pro- 
portion to labor, than in any other por- 
tion of the domestic field." 

The bishop arrived in Missouri just 



101 





How Our Church Carrie to Our Country 



at the close of 1835, having been pre- 
ceded by his assistant, the Rev. Peter 
Minard. He writes in his journal, "I 
preached in my new church yesterday, 
December 20 ; the houses here are low, 
very small, and rather scarce." De- 
velopments quickly followed. A new 
church was undertaken "with a gal- 
lery, in parts of which negroes can 
be accommodated." The former build- 
ing was sold and another one erected 
at the corner of Fifth and Chestnut 
Streets at a cost of $70,000. It pro- 
vided sittings for 600 and was bur- 
dened with a debt of $20,000. In 1840, 
the bishop resigned the rectorship of 
Christ Church and was succeeded by 
the Rev. F. F. Peake, who had done 
a notable work in the outlying parts 
of the state. The same year witnessed 
the establishment of the second parish 
in St. Louis. It was founded by the 
Rev. Peter Minard. A lot was pur- 
chased on a credit for five years, and 
a building 50x30 projected at a cost 
of $2,000. Pending its completion 
services were held in a school room. 
Mr. Minard died .in 1846 and, after 
many struggles, St. Paul's Church was 
consecrated thirteen years later. 

The story of the later growth of the 
Church in St. Louis is beyond the com- 
pass of this article. Suffice to say that 
in 1840 the diocese of Missouri was 
organized and remained under Bishop 
Kemper's care for three years. In 
1844, Cicero Stephen Hawks was 
elected bishop and guided the diocese 
through the troubled period of the 
Civil War. He died in 1868. Then 
came the administration of Bishop 
Robertson, who was succeeded by 
Daniel Sylvester Tuttle, the "grand 
old man" of the American Church. 

Some mention must be made of the 
planting of the Church outside St. 
Louis. Shortly after his arrival Bishop 
Kemper journeyed up the Mississippi 
River in the Olive Branch, and ascer- 
tained that many Episcopalians were 
settled in the small towns. The bishop 



wrote the Society, "As a proof of the 
sluggishness of our movements is the 
fact that, so far as I can learn, I was 
the first clergyman of our Church who 
has preached at Columbia, Boonville, 
Fayette, Richmond, Lexington, Inde- 
pendence and Fort Leavenworth; in 
a word, I have been the pioneer from 
St. Charles up the Missouri. At sev- 
eral places I met with some Episco- 
palians ; but in every place I met with 
immortal and intelligent beings; and 
everywhere I beheld extensive har- 
vests with very few reapers." The 
distances were immense. Mr. Peake 
officiated at a baptism at a point six- 
teen hundred miles from the head of 
navigation on the Missouri River, and 
an equal distance from where the river 
mingles with the ocean. In one year 
he traveled over eighteen hundred 
miles, mostly on horseback, and the 
roads were indescribably bad. Arriv- 
ing at Boonville in 1836, he found 
one Churchman in the town. At Fay- 
ette were five or six "respectable mem- 
bers," and at Fulton he "was wel- 
comed with tears of joy." 

The first missionary at St. Charles 
was the Rev. Augustus Fitch, who in 
the course of a few months gathered 
quite a large congregation, and $1,000 
was subscribed for the erection of a 
church. Then the usual thing hap- 
pened — the missionary moved away 
and the congregation dwindled almost 
to nothing. When the Rev. Isaac 
Smith arrived to gather together the 
fragments he found six communicants, 
with a few others some five miles 
away. In 1839, the Rev. C. S. Hedges 
reported that St. Paul's Church, Pal- 
myra, was completed; "a small but 
neat edifice, surmounted by a steeple, 
and the second Episcopal church in the 
state." He also added that the num- 
ber of communicants at Hannibal had 
doubled. In 1840, the Rev. William 
Homman was appointed to Jefferson 
City, the capital of the state. With a 
population of 1,000 it had no minister 



103 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



of any kind, but there were two com- 
municants of the Church. Services 
were commenced in a school room. An 
appeal was made to the East for aid in 
the erection of a small but substantial 
stone edifice. Funds came slowly. 
After distressing delay it was reported 
that "the church is covered in and 
contains a few rough benches, but not 
plastered, and without chancel ar- 
rangements." 

During the episcopate of Bishop 
Hawks work was commenced in that 
portion of the state now contained in 
the diocese of Kansas City. The Rev. 
F. R. Holeman began services at Wes- 
ton with a congregation of eleven and 
a Sunday-school of three. At the end 
of four years "a cheap, plain church" 
was erected. Work at St. Joseph, six 
hundred miles from St. Louis, was 
begun by the Rev. W. N. Irish with 
four communicants. The corner-stone 
of Christ Church was laid in 1857. 
Kansas City was developing rapidly, 
and there services were begun in 1857 
by the Rev. J. I. Corbyn. They were 
held for a time in the Methodist 
Church, and St. Luke's parish was 
organized December 14, 1857. The 
first church was built at the corner of 
High and Fifth Streets. 

When Bishop Tuttle assumed 
charge of the diocese he stressed the 
importance of division. Missouri con- 
tained 67,000 square miles, and was 
then the largest diocese in area in the 
Church. The division was finally ef- 
fected in 1889 by the setting apart of 
the sixty western counties as the dio- 
cese of Kansas City, since changed to 
West Missouri. The combined dio- 
ceses have now seventy-eight clergy- 
men, 125 parishes and missions and 
12,683 communicants. 

IV. Kemper College 
One chapter remains to be added to 
this story of how our Church came to 
Missouri — the story of Kemper Col- 
lege. 
Immediately, he entered upon his 



work Bishop Kemper was impressed 
with the necessity of securing more 
trained workers. The harvest truly 
was great, but the laborers were few. 
In his first report to the Board of Mis- 
sions he concludes a careful review of 
the field by saying, "And now I solicit 
— I implore — nay, I demand of the 
Church, by virtue of my office, and 
in the name of my divine Master — I 
demand some additional, able and de- 
voted laborers." The Board would 
have been only too glad to respond, 
but it was short of both money and 
men. Moreover, available men evinced 
a strong reluctance to venture so far. 
Missouri was then on the frontier. 
The bishop visited the East and urged 
the needs of the West, but men would 
not go beyond the Mississippi. Kem- 
per found himself just where Philan- 
der Chase had been in Ohio twenty 
years before — people pleading for the 
ministries of the Church, and the 
Church unable to meet the situation. 
And like Chase, Jackson Kemper con- 
cluded that the West must seek out 




CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL, ST. LOUIS 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



and train its own ministry. Encour- 
aged by the success of Kenyon College, 
he set about the establishment of a 
similar institution in Missouri, and 
appealed to New York for aid. New 
York responded with $20,000. On 
January 6, 1837, a charter was granted 
by the legislature and 125 acres of land 
were secured about five miles from 
St. Louis. The corner-stone of the 
College was laid in May, and the pre- 
paratory school opened in October of 
the following year, under the direc- 
tion of the Rev. Peter Minard. In 
three years there were forty arts 
students, three professors and a hall. 
A theological seminary was planned 
and a medical department with seventy 
students actually added. Alas! there 
was a debt of $12,000. This proved 
fatal. The diocese was poor and the 
parishes in St. Louis were themselves 
burdened by heavy debts, and finally 



the trustees felt compelled to close the 
College, and the splendid property was 
sold to pay the debt. Inevitable as it 
may have seemed at the time this was 
a disastrous act. It meant not only 
that the educational ideals which led 
to the establishment of Kemper Col- 
lege were abandoned, but the Church 
lost a property which in after years 
became a part of the teeming city, and 
which if held would have forever en- 
dowed the diocese. Bishop Kemper, 
who at the time of the sale had ceased 
to have jurisdiction and had removed 
to Nashotah, could not bear to mention 
the institution which bore his name. 
Any allusion to its fate, it is said, 
brought tears to his eyes. In later 
years another effort was made to re- 
pair the loss and a college was started 
at Palmyra under the name of St. 
Paul's. It did not survive the tribu- 
lations of the Civil War. 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH CAME 
TO MISSOURI" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

FOR the story of the Louisiana Pur- 
chase, see "The Territorial Growth 
of the United States," Mowry; and 
Chapter I of "The Conquest of the Con- 
tinent," Burleson, Church Missions 
House, paper, 35 cents. See Chapter III 
of the same book for Bishop Kemper's 
life, or White's "An Apostle of the West- 
ern Church," Church Missions House, 35 
cents. Those who have access to early 
numbers of The Spirit of Missions will 
find valuable material. For life in St. 
Louis in the days preceding the Civil 
War, read Winston Churchill's "The 
Crossing." 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 
Ask who knows what is the great na- 
tional gathering of our Church, and 
where held in 1916; draw out something 
about St. Louis and the great Missis- 
sippi. Or, ask what is a presidingbishop, 
and who is he; where does he live and 
what is he like? Tell them something of 
Bishop Tuttle's splendid life and char- 
acter. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. Early Days. 

1. How and when did Missouri become 
part of the United States? 



2. Tell something of its early settle- 

ment. 

3. Describe the conditions in St. Louis. 

4. What Christian bodies were first on 

the ground? 

II. Spasmodic Efforts. 

1. By whom and when were the first 

public Church services west of the 
Mississippi River held? 

2. What made the work discouraging? 

3. Tell about building the first church. 

4. Who consecrated it and held the 

first confirmation? 

III. Organized Work. 

1. What great event happened in 1835? 

2. Tell something of our first mission- 

ary bishop. 

3. What conditions did he find in Mis- 

souri? 

4. What other bishops followed? 

5. Give some examples of the work 

done. 

IV. Kemper College. 

1. Why were colleges so early estab- 

lished? 

2. Tell of Kemper College. 

3. Why was its closing so great a loss 

to the Church? 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



105 



Hoto ®uv Cfmrri) Came to <&ur Country 



XIV. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO RHODE ISLAND 

By the Rev. F. E. Seymour, Educational Secretary for Rhode Island 



I. The Earliest Days 

RHODE ISLAND, the smallest 
state with the longest name,* is 
not an island in the ordinary 
sense. An English bishop asked the 
late Bishop McVickar : "My Lord, how 
far is your diocese from the main 
land?" Instead of being a body of 
land surrounded by water, Rhode 
Island is a body of water almost sur- 
rounded by land ! 

Politically also Rhode Island has 
distinctions of its own. (a) It was the 
first colony to enact (in 1652) legis- 
lation suppressing slavery; (b) it 
was the first to recognize that the In- 
dians had a right to the land occupied 
by white settlers, and to inaugurate a 
representative form of government; 
(c) as might be expected, it had the 
first navy; (d) it made the first dec- 
laration of independence, May 4, 1776. 

Perhaps most conspicuous of all is 
the fact that Rhode Island was 
founded on principles of absolute re- 
ligious liberty. The charter granted 
in 1663 reads: 

No man shall be in anywise molested, 
punished, disquieted or called in question 
for any difference in opinion in matters of 
religion which does not actually disturb the 
civil peace of the Colony. 

T.his made the position of our 
Church in Rhode Island more favor- 
able than that of any other of the in- 
fant provinces. It experienced no 
opposition from the civil government. 
Religious freedom in Rhode Island 
gave a refuge to all who were under 
restraint elsewhere, so that Cotton 

*"Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" 
is the official name. 



Mather, writing in 1695, describes 
Rhode Island as a "colluvies of Anti- 
nomians, Familists, Anabaptists, Anti- 
sabbatarians, Arminians, Socinians, 
Quakers, Ranters — everything in the 
world but Roman Catholics and true 
Christians." 

The Rev. William Blackstone, first 
white settler in Rhode Island, was one 
of the two or three earliest Episcopal 
clergymen in New England. He 
was the first white settler in Boston, 
but after nine or ten years' residence 
there he sought for the second time a 
home in the wilderness, disliking the 
arrogant despotism of the Puritans, 
of whom he used the memorable ex- 
pression : "I left England to get from 
under the power of the lord-bishops — - 
but in America I am fallen under the 
power of the lord-brethren." About 
1634 he moved from Boston to a spot 
named Study Hill, near Lonsdale, 
R. I., where he planted an orchard — 
the first that ever bore apples in Rhode 
Island.* Cotton Mather refers to him 
as one of "the godly Episcopalians," 
an eccentric but amiable scholar and 
recluse who retained no symbol of his 
former profession but a "canonicall 
coate." 



* Blackstone used frequently to preach in Provi- 
dence and other places, and to encourage his 
younger hearers would give them the first apples 
they ever saw. He rode a mouse-colored bull 
in his various journeys. He must have made a 
striking figure, clad in his "canonical coate" with 
its pockets filled with apples, riding on his bull — 
forming a prototype for "Swiss Family Robinson." 
A fondness for children was one of his marked 
characteristics. He died May 26, 1675, a few 
weeks before the outbreak of King Philip's war 
(in which his library and other effects were de- 
stroyed), and was buried about two rods east of 
his favorite Study Hill, where two rude stones 
designate the place of his interment. "We may 
be proud of Boston's first inhabitant and Rhode 
Island's earliest settler," said Governor Hopkins. 



•Ob 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



Lonsdale is about six miles north 
of Providence, where Roger Williams 
had settled about the same time — prob- 
ably in 1635 or 1636 — so that Black- 
stone is referred to as "living near 
Master Williams, but is far from his 
opinions." He preached monthly at 
Cocumscussuc (Wickford) at the in- 
vitation of Richard Smith, the first 
white settler in Narragansett. These 
were undoubtedly the first regular 
Church of England services in the ter- 
ritory of Rhode Island. 

The next Episcopal clergyman of 
whom we have record was the Rev. 
Mr. Spear, who preached for the year 
1683, evidently as resident chaplain, at 
Richard Smith's "Castle," Cocumscus- 
suc, where Blackstone had earlier min- 
istered ; and also at Jireh Bull's house 
on Pettaquamscutt Hill, where he ap-. 
pears to have performed the first mar- 
riage in Rhode Island by a Church of 
England minister. 

77. The Colonial Period 

The earliest enduring work in con- 
nection with the Episcopal Church in 
Rhode Island was that which led to the 
founding of Trinity Church, Newport. 
In 1698 a number of the people who 
had been gathered together by Rev. 
Mr. Bethune and Rev. Mr. Lockyer 
(who began to preach about 1694), 
commenced to hold public worship, 
and in 1699 petitioned the Earl of 
Bellomont to intercede with the home 
government that aid might be extended 
to them in support of a settled min- 
ister. 

Whether or not this petition from 
Trinity Church, Newport, was instru- 
mental in the organization of the So- 
ciety for the Propagation of the Gos- 
pel in Foreign Parts in 1701, it is a 
fact that the people of Newport were 
the first people to make application to 
the society for assistance and were the 
first to receive it. Trinity Church was 
the largest beneficiary of the Society 
in New England. 

Meanwhile, under the spiritual di- 



rection of the Rev. Mr. Lockyer, a 
considerable parish was gathered to- 
gether, and a "handsome but not 
beautified" church was completed not 
later than 1702. Trinity Church, 
Newport, was the fifth Episcopal 
Church to be organized in America 
north of Mason and Dixon's line. 

In 1704 the Rev. James Honeyman 
was sent by the S. P. G. as missionary 
to Trinity Church, remaining its rector 
for nearly fifty years, the S. P. G. 
providing his salary. During this 
time it grew into one of the most influ- 
ential Episcopal churches in America. 
Mr. Honeyman preached twice each 
Sunday in his own church, adminis- 
tered the Sacrament every month, ob- 
served all fasts and festivals, had 
prayers twice a week in Lent, and pub- 
licly catechized the children — besides 
preaching on week days often at Ports- 
mouth, Freetown, Tiverton and Little 
Compton — where is buried Elizabeth 
Pabodie, the daughter of the famous 
Pilgrims, John and Priscilla Alden. 

Besides these labors in his nearer 
neighborhood, which must have taxed 
his time and energy to the utmost,* 
considering the lack of traveling facili- 
ties, Mr. Honeyman also preached in 
Providence to the largest number of 
people he had ever had gathered to- 
gether since he came to America — so 
that he was "obliged to preach in the 
fields, no house being able to hold 
them, and administered both Sacra- 
ments to several persons." These ex- 
ertions, together with those of Dr. 
MacSparran of St. Paul's Church, 
Narragansett, who probably preceded 
him in this region, resulted in the 
founding of King's Chapel (now St. 
John's) in Providence in 1722. 

*An interesting sidelight on conditions existing 
in this period is found in the new and most^ pain- 
ful duty imposed on Honeyman in 1723, in at- 
tending daily for nearly three months a great 
number of pirates who were brought into Rhode 
Island, tried, condemned and executed; twenty- 
six were put to death in the summer of 1723. 
The notorious Capt. Kidd had many friends in 
Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and at various 
times resorted with his accomplices to Narragan- 
sett Bay. He was in Rhode Island about 1699 
and soon after was arrested in Boston and exe- 
cuted in England in 1700. 



107 




THE OLD NARRAGANSETT CHURCH 



In 1726, the congregation of Trinity 
Church having become too large for 
the edifice built in 1702, a new church 
was erected, "acknowledged by the 
people of that day to be the most beau- 
tiful timber structure in America." 
Except that in 1762 it was divided in 
the center and an addition made, 
lengthening the building thirty feet, 
this church remains unaltered to the 
present day, so that in appearance and 
appointments we now see in Trinity 
Church, Newport, a genuine specimen 
of an English church in America two 
centuries ago. 

One of the most momentous inci- 
dents in the early history of Trinity 
Church, which extends its influence 
on the educational life of this country, 
was the visit of the Rev. George 
Berkeley, Dean of Derry, Ireland, in 
the early part of 1729. Dean Berkeley 
planned to establish a college in the 
Bermuda Islands for the conversion of 
the American savages to Christianity. 
The plan was favorably received, and 
he obtained a charter, in which he was 



named as the first president of the col- 
lege. He received also from the Prime 
Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, a prom- 
ise of a grant of twenty thousand 
pounds to carry it into effect. Having 
resigned his living, worth eleven thou- 
sand pounds per annum, and all his 
hopes of perf erment, he set sail for the 
field of his distant labors with his 
family and three fellows of Trinity 
College, Dublin, and several literary 
and scientific gentlemen. According 
to tradition, the captain of the ship 
could not find Bermuda. Having given 
up the search he steered northward 
until he discovered land unknown to 
him, which he supposed to be inhabited 
only by savages.* Two men from 
Block Island who went aboard Berke- 
ley's ship as pilots, informed him that 
he was close to Newport. He landed, 



*We tremble to contemplate the terrible risks 
of uncertainty with which passengers must have 
embarked on an ocean voyage in the eighteenth 
century — if all captains were like this one — and 
can easily sympathize with those who, though 
seeking the grace of Confirmation or Holy Orders, 
considered the risk of a voyage to England too 
great to undertake the trip. 



\ft 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



probably on February 2. Dean Berke- 
ley wrote : 

"The inhabitants are of a mixed kind, 
consisting of Anabaptists, besides Presby- 
terians, Quakers, Independents and many 
of no profession at all. Notwithstanding 
so many differences there are fewer quar- 
rels about religion than elsewhere, the peo- 
ple living peaceably with their neighbors of 
whatsoever persuasion. They all agree in 
one point — that the Church of England is the 
second best."* 

He purchased a farm about three 
miles from Newport and there erected 
a house which he named Whitehall, 
where he resided about two and one- 
half years and often preached in Trin- 
ity Church. Though obliged to return 
to Europe without effecting his orig- 
inal design, his visit was of great 
utility in imparting an impulse to the 
literature of our .country, particularly 
in Rhode Island and Connecticut. 
After his return to England, he sent 
in 1733 a magnificent organ as a do- 
nation to Trinity Church, Newport, 
which having been enlarged is still in 
constant use, and bears an inscription 
which perpetuates the generosity of 
the donor. 

After a long ministry, faithfully 
performed, Honeyman died in 1750. 
He was succeeded by several men of 
whom much might be said did space 
permit: Rev. Marmaduke Browne, 
Rev. Jeremiah Learning, who was the 
first choice of the Connecticut clergy 
for their bishop ; the Rev. Mr. Bisset, 
whose care of the church extended 
partly through the Revolution. Mr. 
Bisset, restrained from ministering in 
the church on account of his unwill- 
ingness to omit prayers for the king, 
left with the British forces in 1779, 



*An incident illustrating the position of the 
Episcopal Church as a meeting-place for people 
of differing views is told: William Wanton was 
governor of Rhode Island from 1732-1734. Wan- 
ton's family were Quakers and his prospective 
bride, Ruth Bryant, was the daughter of a Con- 
gregational deacon. When religious objections 
were made to the match on both sides, he said: 
"Friend Ruth, let us break from this unreasonable 
bondage. I will give up my religion and thou 
shalt thine, and we will go over to the Church 
of England — and go to the devil together!" They 
married and adhered to the Church of England 
during life. As for the rest, we have good hope! 



when they evacuated Newport, and 
went with them to New York. After 
this the services of the church were 
discontinued during several years and 
the building was used by the "Six 
Principle Baptist Society." 

The second foothold of the Church 
in Rhode Island was gained in Nar- 
ragansett County in the southwest 
portion of the state. Previously to 
1700 a number of families attached to 
the Church of England had settled 
in that region and were accustomed to 
hold occasional worship in private 
houses. In 1706 the Rev. Christopher 
Bridges became the regular pastor, 
serving for a year or more, during 
which a church was erected in 1707, 
and about this time the parish re- 
ceived the gift of silver communion 
vessels from Queen Anne. This 
church edifice is still standing, though 
not on the original site, and is in use 
during the summer — the oldest Epis- 
copal Church building in regular use 
in New England. 

For a number of years this infant 
parish was without a regular minister, 
but in 1717 the S. P. G. appointed the 
Rev. William Guy missionary for the 
Narragansett Church, transferring 
him from South Carolina. The cli- 
mate was injurious to his health, how- 
ever, and he very soon returned to his 
former charge. The next minister was 
probably the most distinguished of all 
the colonial clergy in Rhode Island — 
Rev. James MacSparran, D.D., set- 
tling in his charge in 1721 — judged to 
have been "the ablest divine that was 
sent over to this country by the S. P. 
G." His parish embraced a territory 
some twenty miles broad and twenty- 
five miles long, covering the southern 
continental Rhode Island so far as it 
was then settled. 

MacSparran's diary for a period of 
several years, and his book "America 
Dissected," give a graphic description 
of the life and labors of a missionary 
in those times. Besides the ordinary 
ministrations in St. Paul's Church, 



109 




OLD TRINITY CHURCH, NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND 



10 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



regular services were held in Provi- 
dence four times a year until the 
church there was organized, and oc- 
casional services were held in Con- 
necticut (where he founded St. 
James' Church, New London, where 
afterwards Bishop Seabury was 
buried) ; also in Bristol, Freetown, 
Swansea, Little Compton and Conani- 
cut, etc. Frequently he ministered to 
the body as well as to the soul — for he 
records many consultations for various 
ills and gives several prescriptions and 
"physicks" and such treatment as 
blood-letting. 

Far-reaching in its influence on the 
Church in this country was Dr. Mac- 
Sparran's connection with Rev. Dr. 
Samuel Seabury, of Connecticut. Dr. 
Seabury, who had married a cousin of 
Mrs. MacSparran, was originally a 
Congregational minister, but, largely 
through intercourse with his kinsman 
by marriage, he conformed to the 
Church of England during the infancy 
of his illustrious son and namesake 
about 1730. To James MacSparran, 
therefore, it was to a great extent due 
that Samuel Seabury the younger was 
reared amidst Churchly surroundings 
and thus trained for his signal posi- 
tion. 

For thirty-six years MacSparran 
continued his rectorship with great 
faithfulness and acceptability, dying 
in 1757. He was succeeded by the 
Rev. Samuel Fayerweather, who re- 
mained until the church was closed at 
the Revolution. 

Other churches of Colonial times 
were: St. Michael's, Bristol, founded 
in 1719, while that town was still 
counted as being in Massachusetts; 
here the Rev. Mr. Usher* had a long 



and fruitful ministry. St. John's, 
Providence, first known as King's 
Church,* was the product of the mis- 
sion work of Dr. MacSparran and the 
Rev. James Honeyman. The church 
was erected in 1722 and the S. P. G. 
sent a missionary the following year. 
The Rev. John Checkley, rector of 
this church, was one of the remark- 
able characters of the century, an 
ardent advocate of episcopacy, and 
with scholarship to- defend the Church 
against her defamers. 

We have now briefly traced the his- 
tory of the Church in Rhode Island 
up to the Revolutionary War. Bishop 
Clark, in 1890, said : 

"The characteristic of the Church in 
Rhode Island during the period previous to 
the Revolution was that orderly and seemly 
worship which distinguished it from the 
more emotional enthusiasm of the Baptists, 
as well as from the utter absence of form 
prevalent among the Quakers, by which two 
bodies it was surrounded. It was not 
marked by religious enthusiasm, but at 
stood sentinel over the proprieties and 
amenities and moralities of life, and taught 
the current virtues of good citizenship, hon- 
esty, sobriety, thrift, economy and industry. 
It helped to make children and parents con- 
siderate and kind, and servants truthful and 
faithful." 

The Church of to-day is deepiy in- 
debted, under God, to the early rectors 
of the individual parishes in Rhode 
Island. Honeyman of Trinity, New- 
port, patiently instructing his people 
in the Church's order and worship; 
MacSparran of Narragansett, and 
Checkley of Providence, indefatigable 
missionaries and uncompromising 
champions of episcopacy, and Usher 



*A unique incident in the history of St. Michael's 
is a vote of the vestry in 1730 or 1731 that "hence- 
forth the rector shall be called on to support all 
the widows of the church from his own salary." 
The S. P. G. gave him six pounds, increased by a 
parochial stipend of about twenty-five dollars (in 
present-day value). No explanation of this curious 
proceeding seems to be forthcoming — nor is there 
any record that Mr. Usher was called upon to 
share his meagre income with the widows. It is 
to be hoped that all husbands were long-lived. 



*One of the most prominent laymen of this 
time, Gabriel Bernon, passed to his rest in 1736, 
the first signer of the petition for Trinity Church, 
Newport, one on the earliest list of vestrymen of 
St. Paul's, Narragansett, and one of the first 
wardens of King's Church, Providence. Bernon 
was a man of the highest character, whose de- 
meanor was marked by the courtesy indicative of 
his French lineage, and a layman to whom the 
Episcopal Church in Rhode Island is perhaps more 
indebted than to any other individual. A tablet 
on the wall of St. John's Church relates that "to 
the persevering piety and untiring zeal of Gabriel 
Bernon, the first three Episcopal churches in Rhode 
Island owed their origin. 



Ill 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



of Bristol, faithful priest and pastor — 
were four men for whom to give 
thanks. 

III. Diocesan Organisation 

Between 1776 and 1783 the Church 
had been almost destroyed by the 
various circumstances of the Revolu- 
tionary War. Between 1783 and 1790 
may be found the records of hard 
struggle for existence against adverse 
conditions — under the unofficial over- 
sight of Bishop Seabury of Connecti- 
cut.* 

In July, 1787, the Rev. William 
Smith became rector of St. Paul's, 
Narragansett, and three years later 
assumed the rectorship of Trinity 
Church, Newport. Dr. Smith, who 
was an accomplished organ builder, 
acted as choirmaster, giving instruc- 
tions in chanting. In this old Rhode 
Island church, therefore, were heard 
the strains of the Venite chanted, 
doubtless, to some of the grand tunes 
with which we of to-day are familiar ; 
inaugurating a form of singing which 
has become practically universal. 

The natal day of the Diocese of 
Rhode Island was November 18, 1790. 
On this date the first Diocesan Con- 
vention was held, appropriately meet- 
ing in Trinity Church, Newport. Two 
clergymen were present — the rectors 
of Trinity, Newport, and King's 
Church (St. John's), Providence — and 
rive laymen, representing all the par- 
ishes of the diocese except St. Paul's, 
Narragansett. The Rev. Moses Bad- 
ger, of King's Church, was elected 
president and Robert N. Auchmuty 
secretary. The first business of the 
convention was to constitute the new 
diocese as an integral part of the na- 
tional Church by a resolution of ad- 






*Bishop Seabury was always intimately asso- 
ciated with Rhode Island through his father, who 
had been brought into the Church by Dr. Mac- 
Sparran, as narrated above. His first sermon as a 
bishop was preached in Trinity Church, Newport. 
He was described as "a simple, grand, conciliatory, 
uncompromising man." 



herence to the canons passed by the 
General Convention in 1789, and by 
another adopting the Book of Common 
Prayer, whose use had become obliga- 
tory only the preceding month; and it 
was further voted "that the Right 
Reverend Father in God, Samuel Sea- 
bury, D.D., Bishop of the Church in 
Connecticut, be and is hereby declared 
Bishop of the Church in this State." 

Bishop Seabury, who had made his 
first visitation as diocesan on May 30, 
1791, several times visited Rhode 
Island. One visitation in 1795, a year 
before his death, included Providence, 
Bristol, Newport and Narragansett — a 
stage journey altogether of 157 miles, 
during which over 100 persons were 
confirmed. 

The first Sunday-school in Rhode 
Island was established by a Church- 
man in Pawtucket in 1797. Samuel 
Slater, recently from England, brought 
over with him not only the knowledge 
of an important branch of manufac- 
ture but also the knowledge of the 
great moral institution of Robert 
Raikes. The first teacher was Benja- 
min Allen, LL.D., of Brown Univer- 
sity. The school was non-parochial. 

Bishop Edward Bass, of Massachu- 
setts, was elected Bishop of Rhode 
Island in 1798, to succeed Bishop Sea- 
bury. No official acts are known to 
have been performed by Bishop Bass 
in Rhode Island as its diocesan, though 
he was present at the convention in 
Bristol in 1801. After the death of 
Bishop Bass, in 1803, the diocese had 
no episcopal oversight for several 
years. 

In 1808, at the Annual Convention, 
a communication from the Convention 
of Massachusetts on the subject of the 
election of a bishop to preside over 
the states of Massachusetts, New 
Hampshire and Rhode Island was read 
and a committee was appointed to cor- 
respond with Massachusetts on the 
matter, which resulted in a favorable 
report in 1809. Delegates were elected 
to represent "the Church of this State 



>■ 12 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



at the Episcopal Eastern Diocese of 
the United States Convention," which 
was held in Boston, September 26, 

1810. The choice of this convention 
fell on the Rev. Alexander Viets Gris- 
wold, rector of St. Michael's Church, 
Bristol, and in 1811 he was consecrated 
Bishop of the Eastern Diocese, which 
consisted of Massachusetts, New 
Hampshire, Rhode Island and Ver- 
mont' — all of New England except 
Connecticut (for Maine at this time 
was part of Massachusetts). 

The new St. John's Church in Provi- 
dence was the first church to be con- 
secrated by Bishop Griswold, the serv- 
ice occurring on St. Barnabas' Day, 

1811, just eighty-nine years after the 
commencement of the parish in 1722. 

An event of unusual interest oc- 
curred in 1816, when the first Episco- 
pal Church founded in Rhode Island 
since St. John's, in 1722, was estab- 
lished; St. Paul's, North Providence 
(now Pawtucket), was organized in 




BISHOP GRISWOLD 



1816— the fifth parish in Rhode 
Island, the Rev. John L. Blake being 
rector; and in 1818 the Diocesan Con- 
vention met there. This Convention 
was noteworthy in the foundations laid 
for subsequent missionary and educa- 
tional work. A "missionary to officiate 
in this State" — the beginning of dio- 
cesan missionary work, which has 
borne such rich fruitage — was planned 
for, and the clergy were requested to 
arouse the interest of their congrega- 
tions in the project and its support. 

In 1829 important additions were 
made to the diocesan family of 
churches when Grace Church, Provi- 
dence, and St. Mark's Church, War- 
ren, were admitted into union with the 
Convention, both having been erected 
and opened for service within the 
year preceding. 

Bishop Griswold, who had felt the 
increasing burden of the Eastern Dio- 
cese too heavy to be borne with the 
duties as rector of St. Michael's 
Church, Bristol, resigned in 1829 his 
rectorship, which he had had since 
1803, and removed to Salem, Mass., 
and the Rev. John Bristed, formerly 
the bishop's assistant, succeeded him 
as rector. 

For the Church in Rhode Island the 
next decade was a time of refresh- 
ment and enlargement — a period of 
extraordinary growth was experi- 
enced, the number of new parishes 
averaging three each two years. The 
four parishes of colonial days had 
increased to seven in 1830 and to nine- 
teen in 1839, with several missions 
stations. 

In 1837 a board was established to 
superintend the Sunday-school opera- 
tions in the state. The work of this 
Sunday-school Committee led to the 
canonical provision adopted in 1841, 
for a Board of Sunday-schools — prob- 
ably the first diocese to adopt a canon 
on religious education. 

Bishop Griswold, who had been 
Bishop of the Eastern Diocese since 
1811, died in 1843. His earnest advo- 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



113 



cacy, in 1814, of the cause of exten- 
sion at home and abroad was certainly 
among the chief means of awakening 
the American Church to its duty in 
reference to missionary efforts, and 
securing that interest which resulted 
in the formation of our missionary or- 
ganizations. The first foreign mis- 
sionary ever sent by our Church was 
nominated and recommended by 
Bishop Griswold, who throughout his 
life displayed the deepest interest in 
all that pertained to the work of 
evangelizing the world. His charges, 
addresses, letters, all breathe the sin- 
gle idea of consecration to his work — 
the upbuilding of the Church of God 
throughout the length and breadth of 
the vast territory over which the Holy 
Ghost had made him overseer. 

IV. Diocesan Life and Growth 

Under Bishop Griswold's leader- 
ship the Church in the Eastern Diocese 
had increased many- fold, and had 
grown to proportions beyond the 
power of any one man to supervise. 
Already suggestions had been made 
for the dissolution of the unwieldy 
diocese. At Bishop Griswold's death, 
therefore, it was felt that the time had 
come for Rhode Island to have the ex- 
clusive service of a bishop. A special 
Convention held in St. Stephen's 
Church, Providence, on April 6, 1843, 
elected the Rev. John Prentiss Kewley 
Henshaw, D.D., rector of St. Peter's 
Church, Baltimore, to be Bishop of 
Rhode Island. From 1843 to 1847 
Bishop Henshaw had also provisional 
charge of Maine, commencing his visi- 
tations in October, 1843. 

During the episcopate of Bishop 
Henshaw missionary activity and in- 
terest increased marvellously. Many 
new points, especially in the manufac- 
turing districts, were occupied. Bishop 
Henshaw was also rector of Grace 
Church, Providence, and the present 
edifice, the cornerstone of which was 
laid in 1844, was one of the first fruits 
of his labors. 



In 1845 Bishop Henshaw was a co- 
consecrator of William Jones Boone, 
our first missionary bishop to China. 
The interest of Rhode Island in for- 
eign missions may be gathered from 
the fact that St. John's supported a 
missionary in China and other parishes 
supported missionaries in the East. 

Bishop Henshaw died suddenly in 
1852 while performing episcopal 
duties in a distant diocese. 

During the interim Bishop Burgess 
of Maine and Bishop Williams of Con- 
necticut made visitations in Rhode 
Island at the request of the Conven- 
tion, until at a special Convention in 
St. John's Church on September 26, 
1854, Rev. Thomas March Clark, 
D.D., rector of St. Andrew's Church, 
Philadelphia, was elected bishop. 

During Bishop Clark's episcopate 
there was a period of solid growth, 
not only in numbers but in public esti- 
mation, until the Church in Rhode 
Island in influence and dignity stands 
second to no other religious body — 
in marked contrast to its lamentable 
condition immediately after the Revo- 
lutionary War. 

In 1895 Bishop Clark, having been 
bishop of the diocese for forty years, 




BISHOP CLARK 



114 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



and feeling the growing burdens of 
the care of the Church and the in- 
firmities of age, requested a coadjutor, 
and on October 19, 1897, Rev. William 
Neilson McVickar, rector of Holy 
Trinity Church, Philadelphia, was 
elected. In this year an episcopal 
residence was given to the diocese and 
endowed by a devoted Churchwoman. 

From the death of Bishop Williams 
of Connecticut in 1899, Bishop Clark 
became Presiding Bishop of the 
Church, retaining that ofhce until his 
own death in 1903, when he had been 
a bishop for almost forty-nine years, 
and was at that time the oldest bishop 
by consecration in the whole Anglican 
Communion. 

Bishop McVickar having died in 
1910, after a fruitful episcopate of 
twelve years, during which the diocese 
experienced a quiet but steady ad- 
vance in parochial strength and mis- 
sionary activity, the Rev. James De- 
Wolf Perry, Jr., was elected bishop, 



and was consecrated in St. John's 
Church, Providence, on the Feast of 
the Epiphany, 1911. One of his first 
acts was to dedicate the Bishop Mc- 
Vickar House, given to the diocese as 
a memorial to the late bishop, and now 
serving as the diocesan headquarters 
and residence of the diocesan dea- 
conesses and associate missionary. 

The past twenty-five years have seen 
a steady strengthening of Church life 
throughout the diocese, witnessed by 
the gain in numbers of communicants 
and Sunday-school pupils — in new 
church buildings, parish houses and 
rectories, as well as in missionary con- 
tributions. 

The coat-of-arms of the state — the 
anchor — holds constantly before its 
citizens the symbol of Hope — and the 
coat-of-arms of the diocese — the figure 
of Christ on an anchor, presents to all 
who have eyes to see the fulfilment of 
the Hope, in Jesus Christ. "Crux 
mihi ancora." 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH 
CAME TO RHODE ISLAND" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

FOR general information see Perry's 
or Tiffany's "History of the American 
Church," the "History of the Eastern 
Diocese," by Bachelder, and the "Mem- 
oirs of Bishop Griswold," Stone. Inter- 
esting details of the early parishes will 
be found in Mason's "Annals of Trinity 
Church, Newport"; "History of the Nar- 
ragansett Church" (Updike), and "The 
Old Narragansett Church" (Lawrence). 
THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 
Points of contact: Begin by asking the 
class which is the smallest state in the 
Union, and what is peculiar about its 
name? Or, find out what they know 
about Roger Williams and the settlement 
which he founded; then draw out that a 
Church clergyman was in Rhode Island 
before Roger Williams. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. The Earliest Days. 

1. Tell something of the physical fea- 
tures of Rhode Island. 

2. In what ways did Rhode Island take 
the lead politically? 

3 What was the consequence of its 
religious freedom? 






4. What do you know about the Rev, 
William Blackstone? 

II. The Colonial Period. 

1. What is the oldest church in Rhode 
Island, and how was it established? 

2. Tell something about the Rev. Mr. 
Honeyman. 

3. What do you know of the visit of 
Bishop Berkeley? 

4. Describe Dr. MacSparran. 

III. Diocesan Organization. 

1. Give the results of the Revolution- 
ary War in Rhode Island. 

2. When and where was the diocese 
organized? 

3. What bishops were temporarily in 
charge? 

4. What constituted the Eastern Dio- 
cese, and who became its bishop? 

IV. Diocesan Life and Growth. 

1. Tell something about the first dio- 
cesan of Rhode Island. 

2. Who were the second and third 
bishops? 

3. Who is the present diocesan? 

4. What are the conditions of the 
work? 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



m 




XV. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO WISCONSIN 

The material for this article is kindly furnished by the Rev. Henry 
Willmann. A considerable portion of it is taken from an anniversary 
sermon by the late Rev. Dr. Fayette Durlin. 



WISCONSIN formed the north- 
western corner of the large 
tract of land lying west of the 
Alleghany range and north of the 
Ohio River, which in 1600 belonged to 
France, and was known as New 
France, with the seat of government 
in Quebec, Canada, and its highway 
along the St. Lawrence and the Great 
Lakes. 

A long list of French explorers, 
traders and Roman Catholic mission- 
aries visited the territory, among them 
Jean Nicollet, who in 1634 landed on 
Wisconsin soil on the eastern shore of 
Green Bay. In 1660 Father Pierre 
Menard landed at Keewanaw Bay and 
opened a mission for Indians. In 1665 
Father Claude Allouez, another Jesuit 
missionary, was sent to reopen the 
mission in the Lake Superior country, 
and he was succeeded by Father 
Jacques Marquette, whose fame was 
established by his narrative and map 
of a voyage down Wisconsin rivers 
with Louis Joliet as a companion. In 
1679 the great French explorer, La 
Salle, arrived at Green Bay, and voy- 
aging down Lake Michigan encamped 
near the present site of Milwaukee, 
called at that time "Millicke." In 
1700 Father St. Cosme visited Mil- 
waukee Bay, finding there camps of 
the Mascoutin Foxes, Potawatomie 
and other Indians. He called the Mil- 
waukee River the "Milwarick." 

In 1763 the territory of New France 
was ceded to England by the French, 
and twenty years later, at the Treaty 



of Paris in 1783, the territory east 
of the Mississippi River was ceded to 
the United States. In 1787 the coun- 
try northwest of the Ohio River, 
comprising what is now our Church 
Province of the Midwest, was formed 
into the Northwest Territory as a part 
of the American government. 

All the forts and trading posts es- 
tablished by the French or English 
were taken by the government as cen- 
ters from which to gain knowledge of 
the wilderness. The land was opened 
to settlers, and rapid immigration 
from the eastern states set in, result- 
ing in the formation of smaller ter- 
ritories. In 1800 Indiana was set 
apart and organized, Michigan in 
1805, Illinois (having Wisconsin in- 
cluded in its boundaries) in 1809. 
With the admission of Illinois as a 
state of the Union, Wisconsin was at- 
tached to Michigan Territory, and 
formed a part of it until separately 
organized as a territory in 1836. 

The first Protestant sermon was 
preached on Wisconsin soil at Fort 
Howard, Green Bay, by a Presbyte- 
rian divine, the Rev. Jedidiah Morse, 
father of the inventor of the tele- 
graph. It was sixteen years later that 
his denomination established work in 
the territory. 

/. The First Stand 

The first missionary stand of our 
Church in Wisconsin was made at 
Green Bay. Who was the cross-bearer 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



in the first crusade? There is a well- 
nigh forgotten record of the Domestic 
and Foreign Missionary Society, 
which held its meetings originally in 
Philadelphia, and had for its presi- 
dent the venerable Bishop White. We 
learn that a letter had been received 
from a Mr. Eleazar Williams, then 
residing among the Oneida Indians on 
their reservation at Duck Creek, near 
Green Bay, dated December 2, 1822, 
in which he asked aid to establish the 
services of the Church among the na- 
tives in that neighborhood. It was 
not, however, until the following 
spring that decisive measures were 
taken to meet the wishes of Mr. 
Williams. In the meantime, the Mis- 
sionary Board, having their attention 
called in that direction, learned that 
the Rev. Norman Nash would be will- 
ing to assume the charge of that sta- 
tion, and on May 22, 1823, he was ap- 
pointed as the first missionary at 
Green Bay. He arrived at his post in 
the summer of 1825, and after remain- 
ing about one year in that region, 
making discoveries and observations, 
he returned to Philadelphia and pre- 
sented his report to the Board. 

Eleazar Williams* was among the 
Oneidas — but a member of another 
tribe — at Duck Creek, not many miles 
from Green Bay. On the removal of 
this tribe from New York in 1822 to 
their Wisconsin Reservation, Williams 
went with them. He was acknowl- 
edged as one of their chiefs. Several 
years before he had become attached 
to the ritual of this Church, and in 
1815 he made a journey from Oneida 
Castle, in New York, where he re- 
sided with his tribe, to the city of New 
York, to see and counsel with Bishop 
Hobart. After spending several years 
in study and travel, he was, in the 



*A startling and romantic story is associated 
with Eleazar Williams. He believed himself, and 
was believed by others, to be Louis XVII of 
France. The claim was made that the little 
prince, instead of falling a victim to the brutalities 
of Simon, his jailer, was spirited away by royal- 
ists and hidden among the Indians of America; 
further trace of him being lost because of the 
death of those who took part in the enterprise. 



summer of 1824, admitted to the order 
of deacons by the Bishop of New 
York. In January, 1828, Mr. Williams 
applied to the Board of Missions to 
be appointed missionary to the 
Oneidas, among whom he resided. His 
application was favorably acted upon, 
and in August following he was duly 
appointed by the Board. In 1827 the 
Rev Richard F. Cadle was put in 
charge of the mission at Green Bay, 
and held the position for seven fruit- 
ful years. 

In compliance with the recom- 
mendation of the Board of Missions 
at a meeting held in the spring of 
1834, the executive committee, on the 
fifteenth of June following, chose two 
individuals to visit the missionary sta- 
tion at Green Bay and report on the 
state of affairs. The Rev. Drs. Jack- 
son Kemper and James Milnor, hav- 
ing accepted the appointment and re- 
ceived instructions, commenced their 
journey to Green Bay on the third of 
July following, and on the sixteenth 
of the same month they arrived at 
the Mission House and continued 
there until August 4. 

This was the first visit Dr. Kemper 
ever made to the field of labor which 
he was in the future to occupy and de- 
velop with zeal, fidelity, love and de- 
votion, as our first missionary bishop. 
At Green Bay Bishop Kemper's feet 
first touched Wisconsin soil. There 
the first missionary work was under- 
taken. There the first parish organi- 
zation was effected, but to the Oneida 
Indians, on their reservation ten miles 
to the westward, belongs the credit of 
erecting the first church within the 
boundaries of Wisconsin. The mis- 
sionary in charge there at the time 
says : "A neat Gothic church has been 
built at a cost of $3,800; also a par- 
sonage and school house. The church 
was built entirely at the cost of the 
Oneida Indians, and it is worthy of 
remark that it is the first Protestant 
Episcopal church building in the terri- 
tory." This same missionary to the 



115 




PART OF THE MISSION BUILDINGS AT ONEIDA, WISCONSIN 

The hospital in the foreground; the church in the distance. .The hill beyond the church is the burial 

ground where rest the bodies of two of the missionaries 



Oneidas reports 128 confirmations and 
169 communicants. St. Paul's Church, 
Milwaukee, at the same time reports 
to the primary council, twenty con- 
firmations and ninety-eight communi- 
cants. 

Thus the missionary movement of 
the Church in Wisconsin was inaug- 
urated by a letter written by Mr. Will- 
iams to the missionary society in De- 
cember, 1822. If we have any honor, 
if we have any grateful memories for 
our loyal missionary heroes, let us 
not overlook those great men who laid 
the foundations. If we are disposed 
in mind for pious pilgrimages to 
cradles and graves, we would not go 
amiss if some time we turn our feet 
and our faces towards the blue waters 
of Green Bay, for there is the cradle 
of the Church in Wisconsin. 

We have now on the Oneida Reser- 
vation our largest and best-equipped 
single mission among Indians. It re- 
ports 600 communicants, and has a 
splendid stone church, as well as other 
mission buildings, largely erected by 
the Indians themselves. 

77. Bishop Kemper 

The report which the two messen- 
gers made to the Board stirred the 
hearts of all its members. Yes, the 
heart of the whole Church at the East 



thrilled with a missionary impulse; 
and the immediate outcome was the 
election and consecration of Dr. Kem- 
per as Bishop of the Northwest, the 
special jurisdiction assigned him be- 
ing Missouri and Indiana. Bishop 
Kemper's consecration took place in 
St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia, Sep- 
tember 25, 1835, Bishop White being 
the consecrator. One month after the 
consecration, when Bishop Kemper 
was about to set forth, a meeting was 
held in the Church of the Ascension, 
New York, on Sunday evening, Octo- 
ber 25, 1835. The church was crowded 
to overflowing, many stood during the 
entire service and hundreds went 
away unable to gain admission. Noth- 
ing like it had ever before been wit- 




BISHOP KEMPER AS A YOUNG MAN 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



nessed in our Church. The dormant 
missionary spirit awoke into a vigor 
and vitality whose waves still beat 
upon us. The enthusiasm of that gath- 
ering reached its climax when Bishop 
Kemper arose to speak these parting- 
words : 

"I have obeyed the command of our 
Divine Master communicated to me 
through the instrumentality of His 
Church, and having been commis- 
sioned I expect to start tomorrow 
morning to exercise pastoral functions 
as a missionary bishop in Missouri 
and Indiana. Though I make sacri- 
fices and shall exchange comparative 
ease and comfon for a life of toil and 
peril, yet the danger and sacrifices 
are not greater than hundreds are 
ready to encounter for wealth. I can 
promise nothing, yet I know the work 
is great and holy, and being of divine 
appointment I look with humble con- 
fidence for a blessing upon the labors 
which we shall be enabled, through 
the gracious influence of the Holy 
Spirit, to perform. He Who has called 
me will go with me, and I will go 
cheerfully."* 



*The task to which Bishop Kemper was going 
is indicated in these further words of his address: 
"Everything is yet to be done with respect to our 
Church within the bounds of my mission. At this 
time we have one edifice of public worship, but 
not one clergyman in Missouri; while in Indiana 
there is a solitary clergyman, but not one church 
building." 



After Bishop Kemper's farewell 
words, addresses were made by 
Bishop Onderdonk and two or three 
clergy, and a collection taken, amount- 
ing to $2,200. 

The story of the unique life and 
effective ministry of Jackson Kemper 
is a cherished and stimulating part 
of the history of many western dio- 
ceses, and phases of it will appear in 
other articles. With astonishing en- 
ergy and fidelity — at times almost 
single-handed — he witnessed for Christ 
and planted the Church in an area 
which may justly be called an empire. 
His connection with the diocese of 
Wisconsin is best typified by recount- 
ing the story of Nashotah, which was 
his favorite child. 

III. Nashotah 
The story of Nashotah is unique 
in the annals of the missionary work 
of this Church. In 1840 there were 
few villages, or even farms, open in 
this part of the country. But emi- 
grants were rapidly coming in, among 
them Germans, Swedes, Norwegians, 
Danes, Irish, English. Scant provi- 
sion had been made for worship or 
religious instruction, especially in the 
farming districts. Bishop Kemper 
was responsible for the territory now 
included in the states of Indiana, Wis- 
consin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, 




TUSHOP KEMPER'S GRAVE AT NASHOTAH 



117 



How Our Church Came 'to Our Country 




JAMES LLOYD BRECK 

and the country west of the Missouri 
River. He was fully alive to the re- 
ligious needs of the people in this vast 
empire, and the duty of the Church 
to provide for them. In his visits to 
the East, he constantly dwelt on the 
need of clergy, and especially did he 
urge the students of the General The- 
ological Seminary in New York, to 
offer themselves for work in the "Far 
West." His appeals were warmly 
seconded by the professors of the 
Seminary, and its dean, Dr. Whitting- 
ham, afterward Bishop of Maryland. 
Eight young men were moved to offer 
themselves for this work, and by the 
wise counsel of Bishop Kemper it was 
determined to make the then Territory 
of Wisconsin the scene of their labors. 
Mr. Hobart, the son of the great 
bishop of that name, came west with 
Bishop Kemper in August, 1841, and 
settled in Prairieville (now Wauke- 
sha). He was joined by James Lloyd 
Breck and William Adams in Septem- 
ber of that year, the other five mem- 
bers of the original band having for 
various reasons been prevented from 
prosecuting the work. Hobart, Adams 
and Breck were in deacon's orders; 
they rented a single room in a log- 
cabin in Prairieville, and lived a com- 
munity life, reciting the Daily Offices 
of the Prayer Book, and having the 
weekly and Holy Day Eucharists, cele- 



brated as opportunity afforded, going 
out on foot for services in the hamlets 
and cabins in the neighborhood, bap- 
tizing and preaching, their work em- 
bracing a radius of 100 miles or more. 
They established parishes in Racine, 
Kenosha, Elkhorn, Delavan, Wauke- 
sha, Portage City, and a score of other 
places. Their only means of support 
was the stipend from the Board of 
Missions of $250 each, or $750 in all, 
which was thrown into a common 
fund. 

Probably no work of the Church in 
this country has ever been so thor- 
oughly and systematically carried on 
among the scattered settlements and 
log-houses of a new country, as the 
work of this Associate Mission. Their 
faith knew no discouragement, their 
zeal no respite, their love no weaken- 
ing! We can understand how very 
soon their work became known and 
respected at home and abroad, and 
how graciously God's blessing rested 
upon it. 

Each one of these men nad. his own 
particular idea as to what their work 
should be: Hobart saw it as a mis- 
sionary work; Breck as community 
or brotherhood life; Adams as school 
and theological training. But all were 
willing to work on the plan which 
combined the three ideas. Their 
cramped condition in Prairieville soon 
forced them to seek a home of their 
own. 




THE "BLUE HOUSE" 
First building of the Nashotah Mission 



B'l8 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



In the spring of 1842 Hobart went 
East to secure funds for the purchase 
of a site for their future home. He 
gathered enough to warrant the pur- 
chase of some land, and after consid- 
erable search the present beautiful 
location on the Nashotah Lakes was 
chosen, the first purchase being the 
claim of a settler to some forty acres. 
Additional purchases were made as 
funds were secured, making up the 
present landed estate of 450 acres. In 
the early part of August, 1842, the 
three brethren moved into the claim- 
cabin of the settler, and the work of 
Nashotah proper was begun. The 
need of a resident priest was now 
more fully realized than ever, and on 
Sunday, October 9, Mr. Breck and 
Mr. Adams were admitted to Priest's 
Orders by Bishop Kemper in Hobart 
Church of the Oneida Indians, at 
Duck Creek, near Green Bay, some 
120 miles distant from Nashotah. This 
was the only consecrated church build- 
ing then existing in Wisconsin. The 
young deacons, accompanied by some 
of their "boys," walked through the 
wilderness the entire 240 miles to and 
from the place of their ordination. 

After their return from Duck Creek 
the "Blue House" was built, and a 
temporary oratory and altar erected in 
it, where the daily offices of the 
Church and the frequent Eucharists 
were celebrated. At the request of 
Adams and Hobart, Bishop Kemper 
placed Mr. Breck in charge, and he 
became the first official head of Nash- 
otah Mission. Three young men 
joined the mission to prepare for the 
Holy Ministry, and the work of theo- 
logical education was begun. In the 
meantime the missionary work was 
vigorously prosecuted with phenome- 
nal success. 

On account of ill health Mr. Adams 
was obliged to go east in the summer 
of 1843. Mr. Hobart had already an- 
nounced his intention of withdrawing. 
From a human standpoint the outlook 
was dark. The community life was 



little understood by the Church at 
large. There were bitter rivalries be- 
tween the two existing schools of 
thought, and the then stronger school 
mistrusted the true animus of these 
young priests; even good Bishop 
Kemper was greatly misunderstood 
and fiercely maligned for his support 
of the mission. But he was always a 
strong rock of steadfastness ; Nasho- 
tah was the child of his love, his labors 
and his prayers. So the bishop came 
up from his home in St. Louis and 
spent the greater part of the winters 
of 1843 and 1844 at the misson; and 
we can fancy somewhat the strength 
and courage his presence inspired. 
Providentially Mr. Adams was able to 
return in the autumn of 1844 to as- 
sume the special vocation of instructor 
in theology, and here he remained un- 
til his death in January, 1897. In 
1850, Mr. Breck moved on to estab- 
lish new centers in Minnesota. Dr. 
A. D. Cole was elected president of 
the mission in May, 1850, and after 
thirty-five years of honest toil and 
prayer he entered into his well- earned 
rest. During all these years Nashotah 
depended upon the daily mail for its 
daily bread. 

Since the death of Dr. Cole the ad- 
vance of Nashotah in material and 
spiritual things has been marked and 
permanent. Through her bishops, her 
professors and her graduates, "her 
voice has gone out into all lands, and 
her words unto the ends of the world." 
Her endowments have steadily in- 
creased — endowments of land, en- 
dowments of money, endowments of 
literature and buildings, but her rich- 
est and most permanent endowment 
is the men whom she has trained in 
religion and learning for the work of 
the sacred ministry. Two hundred 
and seventy-nine graduates are re- 
corded as having take the full course 
of theological instruction. At least 
one hundred more men have entered 
the ministry who have received their 



119 




THE ALICE SABINE MEMORIAL HALL 
One of the buildings which form the present-day Nashotah 



full or partial preparation for Holy 
Orders at Nashotah. 



IV. Wisconsin' s Dioceses 

On the twenty-fourth of June, 1847, 
the clergy and laity of Wisconsin met 
in St. Paul's Church, Milwaukee, to 
organize a diocese. Twenty-three 
clergy — the entire number within the 
territory — were present, and thirty- 
five lay deputies, four of whom were 
Oneida Indians from Hobart Church 
at Dutch Creek. In all future years 
that parish had a full representation 
of lay deputies in every diocesan 
Council.* 

The Convention quietly organized, 






*Their presence at the council seems to have 
caused great interest, for this resolution was 
offered and unanimously adopted: "Resolved, that 
the presence of four of our red brethren as depu 
ties from Hobart Church affords the highest pleas- 
ure to the members of this convention, and it is 
believed that this is the first time since the plant- 
ing of the Church in these United States that any 
of them have mingled in our councils, and we 
deem it a most gratifying circumstance." 



adopted a constitution and canons, and 
unanimously elected Bishop Kemper 
as bishop of the diocese of Wisconsin. 
He accepted the election but continued 
as missionary bishop of the North- 
west until 1859, when he became 
Bishop of Wisconsin only. He died 
in 1870 and his body rests in the ceme- 
tery at Nashotah, surrounded by those 
who were his staunch helpers in the 
early years. 

The history of the later years can- 
not even be indicated. It is rich with 
great names and great deeds. Five 
bishops followed Bishop Kemper: 
Armitage, the cathedral builder; the 
saintly Welles; Knight, whose episco- 
pate lasted but two years; Nicholson, 
and the present diocesan, Bishop Will- 
iam Walter Webb. Space forbids our 
telling the story of their episcopates, 
or of such work as that of the famous 
James DeKoven, who founded Racine 
College as an off-shoot of Nashotah, 
or of many another honored son of the 
Church in Wisconsin. Together they 



Mow Our Church Carrie to Our Country 



wrought and labored, with the result 
that the diocese of Milwauke now re- 
ports seventy-nine clergy and over 
13,000 communicants. 

In 1874 at the beginning of Bishop 
Welles' episcopate the diocese was di- 
vided, and the northeastern portion of 
the state became the diocese of Fond 
du Lac, with Bishop J. H. H. Brown 
as its first diocesan. He was succeeded 
by Bishop Grafton and he in turn by 
Bishop Weller, who is the present oc- 
cupant of the see. Fond du Lac, which 
is largely missionary soil, contains 
within its borders Green Bay and the 
Oneida Mission, which have been 
mentioned as the cradle of the Church 



in Wisconsin. The diocese reports 
sixty-three clergy and nearly 6,000 
communicants. 

The population of Wisconsin has 
increased over ten-fold in seventy 
years ; our communicants have in- 
creased over thirty- fold. Such a 
growth shows faithful work on the 
part of bishops and clergy, and should 
stand for an equal increase in moral 
and spiritual power, indicating the 
strong influence which the Church is 
exerting in this state upon the public 
conscience and the political, social and 
moral forms of human activity, among 
a population largely composed of the 
foreign-born and their descendants. 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH CAME 

TO WISCONSIN" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

FOR details of the early explorers, told 
in a delightful fashion, see Parkman's 
"La Salle and the Discovery of the Great 
West." For the story of the Church's de- 
velopment, read Chapter III of "The Con- 
quest of the Continent" (Burleson) ; "An 
Apostle of the Western Church" (White), 
and "The Life of Dr. Breck," by Charles 
Breck, D.D. Much material may be found 
by those who have access to the proceedings 
of the Board of Missions for 1822, pages 
21-29, or to the Wisconsin Historical Col- 
lections, Vol. XIV. 



THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Ask how people traveled across the con- 
tinent before there were railways. Explain 
how waterways were used by the Indians, 
and show how by passing through the St. 
Lawrence and the Great Lakes up the Fox 
River, to the heart of Wisconsin, at a place 
called Portage, the Indian could carry his 
canoe for less than a mile and put it into 
Rock River, whence he could sail down the 
Mississippi. Or, ask the class if they have 
ever heard of a diocese that was founded 
by an Indian, and tell them about Eleazar 
Williams. 



TEACHING THE LESSON 

I. The First Stand. 

1. Who first brought Wisconsin to the at- 
tention of the missionary society? 

2. What can you tell about Eleazar 
Williams ? 

3: Who visited the Oneida Mission? 
4. What is the condition of the work 
there today? 

II. Bishop Kemper. 

1. Who was Jackson Kemper? 

2. Tell of the meeting in New York 
which sent him forth. 

3. In general, what did he accomplish? 

III. Nashotah. 

1. On what ideal was Nashotah founded?* 

2. Who composed our first associate 
mission? 

3. Tell of their early experiences. 

4. What has Nashotah accomplished? 

IV. The Dioceses in Wisconsin. 

1. When and where was the diocese of 
Wisconsin organized? 

2. Name some of its bishops. 

3. What other diocese was set off from it? 

4. What is the present condition of the 
Church in Wisconsin? 



*An associate mission is one where unmarried 
clergy live in community and work out from it 
as a centre. 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



1351 




XVI. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO MINNESOTA 






THE year 1835 is ever to be held 
in devout remembrance as the 
year in which the American 
Church declared herself to be the mis- 
sionary society, of which all the bap- 
tized are members, and on September 
25 consecrated Jackson Kemper as our 
first missionary bishop. 

For eleven years he was without 
a home, but was continuously traveling 
on foot, on horseback or in lumber 
wagons, to preach in log cabins and 
inns. In 1843 he visited the Rev. E. 
G. Gear, chaplain of Fort Snelling, at 
the confluence of the Minnesota and 
Mississippi Rivers, for the purpose of 
consulting him about work among the 
Indians. 

/. An Army Chaplain and an 
Associate Mission 

If one wished to set forth the possi- 
bilities in the life of an army chaplain, 
he could not do better than to turn 
back the pages of Minnesota history 
until he encountered the name of 
Ezekiel G. Gear, with whom really be- 
gins the story of the Church in Min- 
nesota. As early as 1839 the Rev. 
Mr. Gear — lovingly known as Father 
Gear — had begun to preach the 
Church, in season and out of season, 
to all whom he could reach. Towns 
as yet there were none, but in scattered 
hamlets and in the fort he baptized 
and preached and gave the sacrament 
of the Holy Communion. He writes 
with joy in 1840: "At our last Com- 
munion fourteen partook, among them 
a native Chippewa" — John Johnson 
Enmegahbowh, afterward our first 
Indian priest. He also kept a school 



for the children of the garrison, which 
was attended by some from outside. 
In addition he officiated at St. Croix 
Falls, Stillwater and St. Anthony, be- 
ing a missionary of the Board serving 
without remuneration. In 1840 the 
settlers on the reservation were ex- 
pelled, some of whom, taking claims 
across its eastern boundary, became 
the founders of St. Paul. The shepherd 
followed the sheep and from 1840 to 
1850 held services among them. 

For twenty-seven years, during 
which he served under the government 
in different Minnesota forts, he was 
instant in the service of the Church; 
a counsellor, helper and friend of 
Bishop Kemper and his little band, as 
also of Bishop Whipple and those who 
aided him. In 1875, at the age of 
eighty years, then the senior presbyter 
of the Church in the United States, he 
was buried in the soil of the state for 
which he had done so much, and in the 
eulogy which Bishop Whipple pro- 




EZEKIEL G. GEAR 



i? 





THE FIRST MISSION HOUSE, ON THE SITE OF ST. PAUL 



nounced on that occasion he repeated 
these words of the departed saint, 
which were the key-note of his life : 
"We have nothing to do with results; 
we must do the work for God, and 
we shall find the fruit in the resurrec- 
tion." 

After eleven years of single-handed 
service, an earnest band of helpers 
came to relieve the lone army chaplain. 
On June 27, 1850, the Rev. Messrs. 
Breck, Wilcoxson, Merrick and Hol- 
comb— who the day before had landed 
on the site of the present city of St. 
Paul and celebrated the Holy Com- 
munion under a spreading oak as the 
first act of their missionary enterprise 
— arrived at Fort Snelling. This was 
the same James Lloyd Breck who had 
founded Nashotah and after seventeen 
years of work there had moved on to 
the virgin fields of Minnesota. Under 
these men the work began which 
rooted the Church deeply in the soil 
of Minnesota. Property was acquired 
in many places, six acres of which were 
in the heart of the present city of St. 
Paul. Here the missionaries had their 
chapel with daily services, and their 
schools. Christ Church parish was or- 
ganized and Dr. Breck became its first 
rector. 

Dr. Breck and his associates re- 
peated in Minnesota the type of work 
which had been done earlier in Wis- 



consin. They walked hundreds of 
miles, ministering to scattered people, 
establishing Sunday-schools, gathering 
congregations and encouraging them 
to erect log churches in which they 
might worship. The record of the first 
full year of the associate mission tells 
its own story. The three men had of- 
ficiated in seventeen different places, 
holding 366 services, celebrating the 
Holy Communion sixty times, travel- 
ing a total of 6,400 miles— 3,400 of 
these on foot. 

Mr. Wilcoxson succeeded Dr. Breck 
as rector of Christ Church (St. Paul), 
the mother parish of Minnesota, but 
after two years returned to itinerant 
missionary work, Dr. Van Ingen tak- 
ing the rectorship, which he held until 
the coming of Bishop Whipple. A sec- 
ond mission, known as Holy Trinity, 
was established by the associate mis- 
sion in the village of St. Anthony in 
1852 and placed under the charge of 
the Rev. J. S. Chamberlain. He found 
a church twenty-four feet long, neither 
plastered nor painted, built in what 
was jocularly known as the ' 'pointed 
Minnesota" style — of boards running 
up and down, the cracks between them 
being covered with battens. This 
model served for a dozen other church 
buildings in the valley of the Upper 
Mississippi. 

In 1855 the village of Minneapolis, 



1 93 




THE FIRST BUILDING OF SEABURY MISSION 



across the river from St. Anthony, 
boasted about 100 houses. Here Mr. 
Chamberlain organized a parish, first 
called the Ascension but afterward 
known as Gethsemane. It developed 
rapidly under the leadership of the 
Rev. D. B. Knickerbocker, and in 1857 
became a self-supporting, free church. 
Dr. Knickerbocker did itinerant work 
also outside of Minneapolis, and 
labored indefatigably in this field until 
his election as Bishop of Indiana. 

//. Bishop Whipple 

In 1857 the diocese of Minnesota 
was organized, but it was not until two 
years later that a bishop was chosen. 
The choice fell upon Henry Benjamin 
Whipple, an earnest young rector in 
the new city of Chicago. He accepted 
the election and was consecrated in the 
fall of 1859 at the meeting of the 
General Convention in Richmond, Va. 
His first service in Minnesota was held 
November 10 in the Baptist chapel in 
Wabasha, where he baptized an infant. 
There were difficulties in the way of 
conducting the Prayer Book service. 
The building was dimly lighted and 
there was but one Prayer Book in the 
congregation. This was in the hands 
of a young lawyer named Burleson, 
who read the responses in a clear, dis- 
tinct voice. The bishop was greatly 
pleased to find a good Churchman 



present at his first service in his new 
diocese, and so expressed himself after 
the service. The man replied that he 
did hot belong to the Church, and was 
not even baptized. "But," said the 
bishop, "you read the service, and the 
Creed." "I am afraid," was the an- 
swer, "that may have been local pride ; 
I did not want you to think badly of 
our town." Mr. Burleson was after- 




THE YOUNG BISHOP WHIPPLE 



mk 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



wards confirmed, entered the newly- 
established Seabury Divinity School 
and became one of the pioneer mis- 
sionaries in Minnesota and Wisconsin. 

The bishop proceeded to St. Paul, 
where on November 14 he preached in 
St. Paul's Church in the morning and 
Christ Church in the evening. The 
evening following a reception was 
given him by Dr. and Mrs. Paterson, 
of St. Paul's Church. His earnestness 
and kindness of manner won all hearts, 
and he appeared to have inspired con- 
fidence in the success of his future 
labors. Thus did the new bishop take 
up his work. A little later he decided 
to move his residence to Faribault and 
make that his see city. Here he built 
up the splendid institutions which have 
made the name of Minnesota famous 
in the Northwest, and which will be 
spoken of later in this article. 

Space forbids our dwelling further 
upon the development of the work 
among the white people. We must 
make adequate note of the fact that 
it was in Minnesota, and under Bishop 
Whipple, that the Church first recog- 
nized and undertook to discharge her 
duty toward the Indian race. Bishop 
Whipple became the champion of the 
misunderstood and much abused ab- 
origines, yet he was not the very first 
to realize their need. 

Father Gear was no caged bird, 
whose influence was limited by the 
walls of Fort Snelling. He was a 
great-hearted missionary who created 
opportunities for himself to preach the 
Gospel. Among other ways he wrote 
much for the Church papers on mis- 
sionary matters, and frequently on the 
call of the Indian. "Would to God," 
he wrote, "that our Church could be 
roused on the subject of Indian mis- 
sions. I pray that a door, and an ef- 
fectual one, may be opened. The 
scenes that I daily witness among 
these wretched beings make my heart 
bleed." His prayers were answered. 
Enmegahbowh, an Ottawa Indian, 
came from Canada in 1835 as an in- 



terpreter for the Methodists. In 1840 
he received the Holy Communion. He 
was ordained deacon in 1849, and for 
many years his name stood at the head 
of the clergy list of the diocese. At 
his solicitation in 1852 Mr. Breck 
established the mission of St. Colum- 
ba, at Gull Lake. The Rev. E. Steele 
Peake in 1856 was associated with 
him. In 1857 "firewater" caused the 
withdrawal of the missionaries from 
the mission, Mr. Peake going to Crow 
Wing and Mr. Breck to Faribault. 

After Bishop Whipple's consecra- 
tion Bishop Kemper said to him : "My 
young brother, do not forget these 
wandering Indians, for they too can be 
brought into the fold of Christ." Ac- 
cordingly, within a month after his 
consecration he was at the mission of 
St. Columba, visiting Mr. Peake. 
Throughout his whole episcopate he 
loved the Indians with an intense love. 
The government gathered all the Chip- 
pewas at White Earth. His visits to 
them in the summer were one of the 
happiest periods of his life and theirs. 

In 1860 a mission was established at 
the Lower Sioux Agency on the Min- 
nesota River. The Rev, Mr. Hinman 
was put in charge. In 1862, at the time 
of the Sioux outbreak, the Christian 
Indians joined with the whites in put- 
ting it down. When the war was over 
the "hostiles" were sent to a reserva- 
tion, where they received annuities, 
while the Christians lived in the towns 
on the Mississippi and Minnesota at 
Faribault receiving financial assistance 
from the bishop. 

As a consequence of this Indian up- 
rising — known among whites as the 
"Sioux massacre" — a large number of 
the Dakotas were deported from Min- 
nesota and settled upon reservations 
in South Dakota, where they became 
later on the special responsibility of 
Bishop Hare as Bishop of Niobrara. 
Those who remained are mostly set- 
tled at Birch Coulie, where the hand- 
some Church of St. Cornelia ministers 
to their needs. 



125 




THE CATHEDRAL OF OUR MERCIFUL SAVIOUR, FARIBAULT, MINNESOTA 

The tower in the foreground is a memorial to Bishop Whipple 



The story of the Church's work in 
Minnesota would be incomplete with- 
out some mention of the work of the 
Reverend J. A. Gilfillan, who came to 
Minnesota as a young man and re- 
turned after graduation from the Gen- 
eral Theological Seminary. Bishop 
Whipple sent him to Duluth, where 
he was the first rector of Saint Paul's. 
Later on Bishop Whipple decided that 
work must be established among the 
Chippewas, and at his request Mr. 
Gilfillan gave up his work at Brainerd 
and went to live among the Indians. 
Practically his entire ministry was 
spent with them. After twenty-five 
years among the Indians Mr. Gilfillan, 
now sixty years of age and having suf- 
fered a complete break-down, retired 
from the work. 

We must not fail to speak, though 
it must be briefly, of one whose name 
is still beloved through the length and 
breadth of Minnesota — the Rev. Mah- 
lon Norris Gilbert, who in 1886 was 
elected an assistant to Bishop Whipple. 
He was a native of Western New 
York and a graduate of Seabury Di- 
vinity School. A son in the faith to 
Bishop Tuttle, he spent his early years 
of ministry in Montana, from which 
work he passed to the rectorship of 
Christ Church, St. Paul, where he 



manifested qualities of spiritual lead- 
ership which endeared him to all who 
knew him. For nearly fourteen years, 
as assistant bishop, he traveled over 
the diocese, winning affection both 
within and without the Church, a con- 
secrated, high-minded Christian gentle- 
man, a faithful fellow-worker with his 
great diocesan. 

In 1895 it became necessary to di- 
vide the state of Minnesota, and the 
missionary district of Duluth, embrac- 
ing rather more than the upper half of 
the state, was created, with the Rt. 
Rev. J. D. Morrison as bishop. The 
chief remaining Indian work of Min- 
nesota — that among the Chippewas on 
the White Earth Reservation — passed 
to the new missionary district and re- 
mains one of its distinctive features. 

777. Christian Education 

From the beginning the diocese of 
Minnesota has placed great emphasis 
upon Christian education. The early 
founders — Breck and his associates — 
were especially imbued with the con- 
viction of the importance of schools 
and colleges. Educational and evan- 
gelistic work went hand in hand, or 
rather each one supplemented the 
other. In 1857 Dr. Breck and Dr. 
Manney, the latter chaplain of the 



6 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



army post at Fort Ripley, visited Fari- 
bault and made the beginnings which 
resulted in the establishment of the 
splendid schools which for fifty years 
have contributed so much to the life of 
the Church in the Northwest. The 
name given to the work was the Bishop 
Seabury Mission. It was to embrace 
schools for both girls and boys and to 
provide for theological education. 
The first school building of the mis- 
sion was opened for use on August 22, 
1858. It was a plain wooden building 
of the "early pointed Minnesota style" 
and was used for Church services on 
Sunday and for school during the 
week. St. Mary's Hall for Girls, Shat- 
tuck School for Boys, and the Sea- 
bury Divinity School are the out- 
growth of this modest building — a 
"university" which began with two 
professors and one student. 

Three names, beside that of Dr. 
Breck, are conspicuously associated 
with this educational enterprise. In 
1859 the Rev. Solon D. Manney joined 
the Seabury Mission and took charge 
of the studies of the candidates for 
Holy Orders. He was a very able 
man and virile Churchman. The first 
draft of our Constitution and Canons 
was written in his study at Fort Rip- 
ley, and contained certain principles 
which unfortunately were deleted. He 
delivered the best speech on the pro- 
vincial system which was ever heard 



in the General Convention. The Rev. 
George C. Tanner was one of the first 
candidates for orders in 1857, and 
after fifty years he still renders service 
as a Professor at Seabury, having 
also, in these later years of his life, 
written an extensive history of the 
Diocese of Minnesota. The third name 
is that of James Dobbin, who in 1859 
came to Faribault as a teacher, and re- 
mained for more than forty years as 
the headmaster of Shattuck School, to 
see it pass from an ill-equipped enter- 
prise with a mere 'handful of students 
to an enviable position among the im- 
portant secondary schools of the land. 
The crown of all the buildings 
erected under the bishop's direction is 
the cathedral. It was consecrated in 
1867 by Bishop Kemper, who must 
have thought of his first visit to Min- 
nesota twenty-four years before, and 
cried out in his heart : "What hath God 
wrought !" 

IV. The Later Days 
The later history of the Church in 
Minnesota is covered by the episcopate 
of Bishop Edsall, who at the death of 
Bishop Gilbert in 1900 was missionary 
bishop of North Dakota, and as such 
was well-known in Minnesota. To 
him Bishop Whipple turned, begging 
that he would come and ease the bur- 
den of his declining years. In June. 
1901, Bishop Edsall was elected as 




SHATTUCK SCHOOL FOR BOYS, FARIBAULT. MINNESOTA 



I 



127 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



coadjutor of Minnesota, and finally- 
accepted with the understanding that 
he should continue his work in North 
Dakota until a successor was elected 
and consecrated. On September 16 of 
that year Bishop Whipple died at the 
age of seventy-nine, after a remark- 
able episcopate of forty-two years. He 
was buried in the chancel of the cathe- 
dral at Faribault, the tower of which 
stands as a monument to his memory. 
The General Convention met in Octo- 
ber at San Francisco and elected Bishop 
Mann for North Dakota; on Novem- 
ber 5, 1901, Bishop Edsall was inducted 
into office at a service held in Christ 
Church, St. Paul, the mother parish of 
the diocese. 

The problems before him presented 
diverse difficulties. The diocese of 
Minnesota had arrived at a new stage 
in its history. For some years previ- 
ous it had been found that Minnesota 
could no longer hope to receive the 
large benefactions for its institutions 
and missionary work which had for- 
merly been received from the East. 
The immediate task was a develop- 
ment of the spirit of self-support, com- 
bined with such careful business man- 
agement as might result in carrying 
on the work with undiminished ef- 
ficiency. The appropriation from the 
General Board of Missions had been 
reduced, while under the newly 
adopted apportionment plan the dio- 
cese was called upon to give three 
times the amount of its previous con- 
tributions for General Missions. It 
became necessary to raise locally a 
much larger sum for diocesan mis- 
sions. A greater or less burden of 
debt rested on each of the schools, the 
total amounting to nearly $90,000. 

To these financial difficulties was 
added the problem presented by the re- 
moval from smaller towns where the 
Church had been planted of many of 
those who had been most active and 
helpful in their support. Death was 
taking away the old pioneers, and their 
sons were leaving the small towns to 



seek larger business opportunities in 
the cities of further west. 

Bishop Edsall threw himself into the 
task of visiting the entire diocese, try- 
ing to stay long enough in each place 
to get thoroughly familiar with the 
local conditions. In places without a 
resident missionary he frequently 
called from house to house, endeavor- 
ing to arouse Churchly interest in the 
140 parishes and missions of Southern 
Minnesota. As a result of this tireless 
activity the year 1905 found prac- 
tically every county in the diocese sup- 
plied with at least one resident minis- 
ter, while in several of the more im- 
portant county-seat towns parishes had 
been built up, equipped with churches 
and rectories. 

After eleven years of this taxing 
work, in October, 1912, Bishop McEl- 
wain was consecrated as suffragan for 
Minnesota. Since that time the work of 
the diocese has gone on with redoubled 
efficiency. In every department of the 
evangelistic work there has been im- 
provement; new buildings have been 




BISHOP EDSALL AT THE GRAVE OF 
GOOD THUNDER 

Good Thunder was an Indian chief and Christian 
convert who in the days of the massacre rescued 
more than 200 people, and conducted them to 
places of safety. A monument has been erected 
in recognition of his act. This picture represents 
its dedication. On the bishop's left stands Henry 
Whipple St. Clair, an Indian priest, and immedi- 
ately in front of him the widow of Good Thunder 






How Our Church Came to Our Country 



erected for the Sheltering Arms Or- 
phanage and the St. Barnabas' Hos- 
pital, Minneapolis, and great improve- 
ment made in St. Luke's Hospital, St. 
Paul. Breck School has been removed 
to a site adjoining the Agricultural 
School of the State University, and a 
hostel called Gilbert Hall has been pro- 
vided as a woman's dormitory in con- 
nection with the University. Seabury 
Divinity School and St. Mary's are 
free from debt and all schools are filled 
to their capacity. The diocese has 
raised $12,000 a year for diocesan mis- 
sions besides paying the salaries of 
two bishops and contributing $11,000 
to general missions. The Church in 
Minneapolis and St. Paul and in the 
larger towns in the diocese has grown 
decidedly in strength and efficiency, 
while in the smaller towns and villages 



no place is being left unshepherded 
by visits of our missionary clergy. The 
Seabury students and the members of 
the Lay Readers' League are doing 
valuable work in supplying some of 
our smaller fields. 

The two dioceses which comprise 
the state of Minnesota — Bishop Whip- 
ple's original jurisdiction — now report 
122 clergy and 20,000 communicants. 
Each is an independent diocese sup- 
porting its own bishop and each has 
great future possibilities, though nat- 
urally the southern part of the state, 
being older and more developed has 
thus far made the greater progress. 
This beautiful "Land of the Lakes," 
where the Sioux and the Chippewa 
hunted and fought, is being claimed by 
our devoted bishops and missionary 
clergy for the Kingdom of Christ. 



Class Work on "How Our Church Came to Minnesota 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

F)R reading matter available see "The 
Conquest of the Continent," Burle- 
son, paper, 50 cents, and the "Hand- 
book of the Church's Work among In- 
dians," 35 cents. Both these may be ob- 
tained from the Educational Department, 
281 Fourth Avenue, New York. See 
also "Lights and Shadows of a Long 
Episcopate," Whipple, and the "History 
of Minnesota," Tanner, which may be 
found at public libraries. Also the "Life 
of Bishop Gilbert," The Young Church- 
man Company, Milwaukee, Wis. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Ask your class if they know what state 
claims to have 10,000 lakes within its 
boundaries; help them to guess by in- 
quiring which is the greatest river on this 
continent, and in what state it rises. Or 
ask them what an army chaplain is and 
what he does, and tell them what one 
army chaplain did in Minnesota. The 
work of our chaplains on the border 
when the militia was called out recently 
may be used as an illustration. A third, 
and perhaps the best lead, especially for 
the younger children, would be to ask 
them about the land of Hiawatha. Re- 
member that the Ojibways mentioned in 
the poem are simply the Chippewas 
spelled differently, and that to these In- 
dians the Church sent her first mission- 
aries in Minnesota. 



TEACHING THE LESSON 

I. An Army Chaplain and an Associate 

Mission. 

1. What would you say an army chap- 

lain should do? 

2. What did one army chaplain succeed 

in doing in Minnesota? 

3. What is an Associate Mission? 

4. Give some sketch of the work of Dr. 

Breck and his associates. 

II. Bishop Whipple. 

1. Who was Bishop Whipple? 

2. Tell an incident connected with his 

first service in Minnesota. 

3. How did our Indian Work begin? 

4. Where is it now carried on in the 

state? 

5. Who was Bishop Gilbert? 

III. Christian Education. 

1. How did the educational work in 

Minnesota begin? 

2. Name the present schools. 

3. Tell about some of the early edu- 

cators who gave long service. 

IV. The Later Days. 

1. Who was the second bishop of 

Minnesota? 

2. Where was he when called to the 

work? 

3. Tell about his problems and how he 

met them. 

4. What is the present condition of the 

Church in Minnesota? 






PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



1 9 




XVII. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO FLORIDA 
By the Rev. E. Clozvcs Chorlev, D.D. 



IN the year of Our Lord 1513 the 
Spaniard Juan Ponce de Leon 
sailed from Porto Rico in search 
of that fabled fountain whose waters 
were said to restore long-lost youth. 
He bore to the northwest until he 
reached a land of surpassingly fra- 
grant blossoms. In the belief that he 
had accomplished his quest he landed, 
on the morning of Easter Day, where 
the city of Saint Augustine now 
stands and named the country Florida 
— the Land of Flowers. It remained 
Spanish territory until 1763, when 
Spain gave it to England in exchange 
for Cuba, which the latter had re- 
cently conquered. 

/. The Mother Church 

With characteristic prompt- 
ness the English Church sent 
missionaries to the new pos- 
session. In less than one 
year after Florida became 
British territory the Society 
for the Propagation of the 
Gospel sent out its first rep- 
resentatives, the Rev. John 
Forbes to Saint Augustine 
and the Rev. Samuel Hart 
to West Florida. Other S. 
P. G. missionaries followed. 
Unfortunately the records of 
the society are silent as to the 
work of most of these men, 
though Mr. Forbes is men- 
tioned as still residing in 
Saint Augustine in 1771, and 
the Rev. John Fraser is re- 
corded as "Parson at Mos- 
quito/' doubtless ministering 
to the Indians of that name. 



What was accomplished by these 
men we do not know save that a sub- 
stantial church was built at Saint 
Augustine. The first services — other 
than Roman Catholic — were held in 
the building which stood on the site 
of the Spanish bishop's palace. Later 
a church was built on George Street, 
of which Mr. Forbes was rector. Gov- 
ernor Grant presented the parish with 
a glebe extending from the gates of 
the city to the outer lines. A mission 
was also established in Pensacola. 

After twenty years of British occu- 
pation, Florida was ceded back again 




THE SEAL OF THE S. P. G. 

A minister with an open Bible in his hand stands on the 
prow of a ship in full sail, making for a point of land on 
which are people with arms outstretched. They are say- 
ing: "Transiens adjuva nos" (Come over and help wW). 



tm 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




THE REV. ANDREW FOWLER 

to Spain, and the work of the S. P. G. 
missionaries came to an abrupt end. 
The church at Saint Augustine was 
immediately pulled down and the ma- 
terial used for the erection of a Ro- 
man church. It is said, however, that 
in one devoted Church family the 
Prayer Book service was used private- 
ly for forty-five years. 

77. The Beginnings of the 
American Church 

In 1819 Spain sold Florida to the 
United States, and in July, 1821, the 
Stars and Stripes were raised over 
the old Spanish city of Saint Augus- 
tine. Then began a steady stream of 
settlers from the North. The honor 
of sending the first missionary of our 
Church to Florida belongs to the 
Young Men's Missionary Association 
of Charleston, S. C. Through Bishop 
Gadsden these young men applied to 
the Rev. Andrew Fowler "to go as their 
missionary to Saint Augustine for the 
space of two months, in order if pos- 



sible to collect and organize a congre- 
gation." Armed with a "circular let- 
ter of introduction to Christians in par- 
ticular and to the community in gen- 
eral," Mr, Fowler arrived to find the 
city in the grip of malignant yellow 
fever. Though strongly urged not to 
land, he plunged immediately into the 
work of ministering to the sick and 
dying. In the course of five weeks he 
officiated at eighteen funerals and bap- 
tized eight persons. History is silent 
on the matter, but we imagine his let- 
ter of introduction was not needed. On 
October 6th he published the follow- 
ing notice in the Florida Gazette : 

The Subscriber takes this 
method to announce to the pub- 
lic his intention to perform di- 
vine service, God willing, in this 
city on the morrow, at the old 
Government House. Service will 
commence precisely at 10 o'clock 
in the morning. 

The service was duly held, and we 
are told that the preacher had "a nu- 
merous, respectable and attentive audi- 
ence." 

About this time the Domestic and 
Foreign Missionary Society was or- 
ganized and its attention was early 
drawn to the opportunities and needs 
of Florida. In 1823 the Rev. Mellish 
L. Motte was appointed as missionary. 
Mr. Motte proceeded to Saint Augus- 
tine and preached in the court room 
twice on Sundays, but the venture met 
with scant success. In less than a year 
Mr. Motte "found so little encourage- 
ment in his labors" that he removed to 
South Carolina. The efforts to secure 
another missionary were fruitless and 
for two years only occasional services 
were held. 

In 1825 the congregation put forth 
a circular appeal for aid to erect a 
church. A parish had been duly or- 
ganized with about one hundred souls 
connected therewith, twelve communi- 
cants and "twenty children who have 
attended to be catechised." An act 






131 




TRINITY CHURCH, SAINT AUGUSTINE 



of Congress had given them a com- 
manding site in the public square; 
North and South Carolina had con- 
tributed $900 and the members of the 
parish had raised $500. Nothing was 
wanting but a missionary, but alas, no 
missionary could be found ! However, 
after three years, the Rev. Raymond 
Alphonse Henderson was appointed 
by the Domestic and Foreign Mis- 
sionary Society. After viewing the sit- 
uation he proceded north to collect 
funds, with the result that in 1830 he 
was able to report "our church edi- 
fice, a very neat building of hewn 
stone, fifty by fifty-five feet, in the 
Gothic order, is far advanced towards 
completion." The notable thing about 
this building was that it stood on the 
very spot where the first English 
church had been erected. It was 
opened for divine worship on the first 
Sunday in June, 1831. The following 
year Mr. Henderson resigned. The 
parish was again vacant until in 1834 
the Rev. David Brown arrived, having 
taken twelve days to come from New 
York. He found a little band of true 
Church friends, an unfinished church 
with neither organ nor bell, and a 
debt of $800. Notwithstanding the 
latter, Trinity Church was consecrated 
on June 5, 1834, by Bishop Bowen of 
South Carolina, and a class of twenty 
persons confirmed. The Church had at 
last found a permanent foothold in 
the "Land of Flowers." 



The difficulties under which the 
Church labored in its infant years at 
Saint Augustine were repeated in 
other parts of Florida. At Tallahassee 
and Pensacola the Rev. Ralph Willis- 
ton formed congregations. In the lat- 
ter place, when Christ Church was 
organized, there were only twelve com- 
municants of our Church, ten Metho- 
dists, two Presbyterians and a couple 
of Baptists, in a population of two 
thousand. Mr. Williston did not re- 
main long at Pensacola and was fol- 
lowed in rapid succession by the Rev. 
Addison Searle of Buffalo, and the 
Rev. Benjamin Hutchins of Pennsyl- 
vania. Under Mr. Hutchins a church 
was finished, which is described as 
"neat and substantial ; well adapted to 
the climate", the only difficulty be- 
ing that it was not paid for! Mr. 
Hutchins resigned, the creditors be- 
came impatient, and unless $2,000 
could be raised at once the property 
must be sold. Under these distress- 
ing circumstances the Rev. Ashbel 
Steele of Saint John's Church, Say- 
brook, Connecticut, threw himself into 
the breach. He accepted the appoint- 
ment to Pensacola and took with him 
the money to satisfy the creditors, 
which he had gathered in the East. On 
his arrival the debt was paid. He re- 
ported that thirty pews were rented 
and that the free pews were always 
filled by seamen from the navy yard. 



IJJ.855 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



At Tallahassee there were only two 
communicants and a congregation of 
thirty or forty families. After or- 
ganizing Saint John's Church, Mr. 
Williston returned to the North and 
Florida knew him no more. Jackson- 
ville, Quincy and Apalachicola fared a 
little better. At Jacksonville the Rev. 
David Brown organized a parish under 
the name of Saint John's Church, East 
Florida. It is interesting to note that 
Mr. Brown found there "a few old 
people who belonged to the Church 
forty years ago," and for whom he so- 
licits some "octavo prayer books." A 
parish was organized in Quincy and 
plans made to erect a church of Gre- 
cian architecture, sixty by forty-five 
feet, with "a tower twenty feet high." 
At Apalachicola the Rev. Charles 
Jones found the prospect encouraging ; 
a site was given for a church and 
$7,000 subscribed for its erection. But 
after a while there came a period of 
arrested development, during which 
there was not a single missionary at 
work in the whole state. 

III. The Diocese of Florida 

Following this distressing time of in- 
action there came a distinct and defi- 
nite impulse of growth. The Church 
at large felt the reviving influence of 
the notable General Convention of 
1835. At a convention in Tallahasse, 




CHRIST CHURCH, PENSACOLA 



January, 1838, at which six clergymen 
were present, the diocese of Florida 
was organized, with parishes at Talla- 
hassee, Saint Augustine, Pensacola. 
Jacksonville, Saint Joseph, Apalachi- 
cola and Key West. The infant dio- 
cese was placed under the care of 
Bishop Otey, the first bishop of Ten- 
nessee. 

In the same y||r Bishop Kemper 
visited Florida arid his report gives a 
review of the condition of the diocese. 
At Pensacola he found a small con- 
gregation but "a few choice spirits"; 
the brick church had an organ and a 
vestry room. The bishop consecrated 
the church and confirmed ten per- 
sons. Of Tallahassee he says: "My 
visit to this interesting city I consider 
one of the brightest spots in my life." 
Here, too, he consecrated the church 
and administered the first confirma- 
tion in the parish. He describes the 
church as "a neat wooden building 
with a portico and pillars in front . . . 
the interior arrangements exceedingly 
judicious and indicative of great taste. 
The organ and choir are good, and the 
communion plate and lamps, handsome 
and rich." 

For several years the diocese was 
under the charge of the sainted Bishop 
Elliott of Georgia, but in 1850, an 
Episcopal Fund having been created, 
Florida elected her first bishop. The 
choice fell upon the Rev. Francis Hu- 
ger Rutledge, D.D., rector of Saint 
John's Church, Tallahassee. He was 
consecrated in Saint Paul's Church, 
Augusta, Ga., October 15, 1851. The 
new bishop was a native of South 
Carolina and the first fourteen years 
of his ministry were spent in that 
state. In 1839 he became rector of 
Trinity Church, Saint Augustine, and 
six years later removed to Tallahassee. 
Under his inspiring guidance the dio- 
cese slowly gathered strength. A So- 
ciety for the Advancement of Chris- 
tianity in Florida was established for 
the distribution of religious literature 
and for the support of missionaries. 



i^™ 



133 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



The great drawback to the work was 
the lack of ministers and the means to 
support them. The grant of $500 
made by the Board of Missions was 
swallowed up by three or four parishes 
on or near the coast, and the vast in- 
terior was left untouched. 
| Shortly after the close of the Civil 
War, Bishop Rutledge died. His suc- 
cessor, the Rev. John Freeman Young, 
was an assistant minister of Trinity 
Parish, New York. After incessant 
labors under discouraging circum- 
stances, Bishop Young died in 1885. 
He was succeeded by the present dio- 
cesan, the Right Rev. Edwin Gardner 
Weed, D.D., who at the time of his 
election was rector of the Church of 
the Good Shepherd, Summerville, S. 
C. He was consecrated in Saint John's 
Church, Jacksonville, August 11, 1886. 
For over thirty years Bishop Weed has 
administered the diocese with conspicu- 
ous success. 

IV. Southern Florida and the 
Seminoles 

In 1889 the southern part of the 
state was set off as the Missionary 
District of Southern Florida, with the 
Right Rev. William Crane Gray, D.D., 
as its bishop. His jurisdiction em- 
braced 40,000 square miles of terri- 
tory — a flat land covered with endless 
pine forests, fresh-water lakes, orange 
groves — with the wide, unexplored 
area of the Everglades, and hundreds 
of tiny islands or "keys," of which the 
largest was Key West. 

The first work undertaken in the 
southern part of the state was on this 
island — the ancient haunt of pirates — 
where a colony from Mobile had set- 
tled and a mission was organized in 
1832. The Domestic and Foreign 
Missionary Society appropriated $200 
for a missionary and services were 
held with a congregation of about one 
hundred and fifty white settlers, sol- 
diers, marines and colored people. 

When Bishop Gray took charge of 
the district of Southern Florida he 




BISHOP STEPHEN ELLIOTT 

made Orlando his see city, and here 
established a school for girls and a 
Church home and hospital, the latter 
ministering to all, regardless of race 
or means. The number of parishes 
and mission stations among both white 
and colored people was greatly en- 
larged. One of the largest Negro con- 
gregations in the South is that of Saint 
Peter's, Key West. The Seminole In- 
dians early attracted the attention of 
Bishop Gray and he established a mis- 
sion among them at Glade Cross, far 
in the center of the Everglade country. 
The Seminoles deserve a paragraph 
to themselves. No Indian tribe has 
had a more gallant or a sadder his- 
tory. Resenting the attempt of the 
government to deprive them of their 
lands, they found a secure asylum in 
the recesses of the Everglades, from 
which they emerged to ravage the set- 
tled parts of Florida. At last the gov- 
ernment succeeded in removing the 
greater part of the tribe to the Indian 
Territory, but two hundred of them 
withdrew to the impenetrable swamps 
of the interior of the Everglades and 
defied capture. Their remarkable ca- 




THE MISSION AMONG THE SEMINOLES AT GLADE CROSS 



pacity as bush-fighters won for them 
the name of "The Unconquered Semi- 
noles," and for years they resisted any 
attempt to impress on them the civili- 
zation of the hated white man. Their 
conversion to Christianity is said to 
have been due to a white woman who 
had gained their confidence. Mission- 
aries had been sent to them by various 
religious bodies, but not until "Queen 
Flossie," as she was called, embraced 
the faith of our Church would any of 
them see religion in any other light 
than that of their forefathers. An 
English clergyman, the Rev. Henry 
Gibbs, ministered among them for sev- 
eral years, and Bishop Gray established 
a hospital at Glade Cross, where Dr. 
W. G. Godden devoted many years of 
his life. The work among these peo- 
ple, now greatly increased in number, 
will necessarily be slow, owing to the 
difficulties of environment, but as they 
are amongst the most intelligent of 
the Indians of our country, time will 
surely bring results. 

In 1913 Bishop Gray retired, after 
twenty-one years of devoted service, 




«&- * i ; 



t , M V 



THE IMPENETRABLE EVERGLADES 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



135 



universally loved and respected. The 
work in Southern Florida owes every- 
thing to his untiring labors. To fill the 
vacancy, Bishop Cameron Mann of 
North Dakota was translated to South- 
ern Florida. His long experience in 
the mission field will be of great value 
to him in this, our southernmost con- 
tinental district. 

In Florida and Southern Florida 
today (1917) there are eighty-three 



clergy and sixty-three lay-readers, 
who have charge of one hundred and 
sixty parishes and missions. The com- 
municants number nearly ten thousand 
and there are over five thousand chil- 
dren in the Sunday-schools. The 
young men of Charleston who, back in 
1821, took an active interest in "mis- 
sions" and sent our first missionary 
all the way down the coast to Florida, 
wrought better than they knew! 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH 
CAME TO FLORIDA" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

FOR the story of the acquisition, of 
Florida, see "The Conquest of the Con- 
tinent," Burleson. Early files of The 
Spirit of Missions and the journals of the 
General and Diocesan Conventions will give 
details of the development of the Church in 
the state. For local color Miss Woolson's 
novels are excellent. In his life of Sena- 
tor Benton, Theodore Roosevelt gives a 
vivid description of the second Seminole 
War. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

No state in the union will more readily 
appeal to the imagination of a child than 
Florida. Ask them if they have heard of 
the wonderful work of the coral insect, 
which has built up part of the mainland and 
most of the islands which surround it. 
Then picture the orange groves and planta- 
tions of grape fruit ; the alligators which 
sun themselves on the banks of the rivers, 
the pirates who used to hide their stolen 
treasure in the sands of Key West. Draw 
attention to the fact that the present bishop 
of Southern Florida, Cameron Mann, was 
for many years in charge of North Dakota, 
which has the proud record of giving the 
largest per capita Sunday school offering 
in the Church. Tell them to watch Southern 
Florida under Bishop Mann. 

Older pupils will be interested in the way 
in which the state has changed owners. 
Probably it was the only one in the union 
which first belonged to Spain, then to Eng- 
land, then to Spain again, until it finally 
found its home. 



of the American 

event happened in 



TEACHING THE LESSON 

I. The Mother Church. 

1. By whom were the first missionaries 
of our Church sent to Florida? 

2. Name two of them. 

3. Where was the first church built? 

4. What happened when Florida was ceded 
back to Spain? 

II. The Beginnings 

Church. 

1. What important 
Florida in 1821 ? 

2. What was the result of Florida's be- 
coming a part of the United States? 

3. Who sent the first missionary to the 
new possession? 

4. Tell what Mr. Fowler's first service 
to the community was. 

5. Which was the first church to be con- 
secrated ? 

III. The Diocese of Florida. 

1. When and where was the diocese of 
Florida organized? 

2. Name three bishops who took care of 
Florida until she had a bishop of her 
own. 

4. Who was the first bishop of Florida? 

5. Who is the present bishop, and for how 
long has he administered the diocese? 

IV. Southern Florida and the Seminoles. 

1. What are the characteristics of the 
southern part of Florida, and when was 
it made a missionary district. 

2. Who was its first bishop? How long 
was he in charge? 

3. Tell what you know about the Semi- 
nole Indians. 

4. Who is now the bishop of Southern 
Florida? For what is his old district 
of North Dakota noted? 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



137 



itoto <&uv Cfmrcf) Came to <&ux Country 



XVIII. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO THE OREGON 

COUNTRY 

By the Right Reverend Walter Taylor Sumner, D.D. 



ALL this northwest portion of 
the United States was occupied 
jointly with Great Britain from 
1818 to 1846, when by treaty con- 
cluded June 15, 1845, it was acquired 
by this government. It was called the 
Oregon Country, from the Indian 
name of its chief river, Wau-re-gan, 
"beautiful water," as the Columbia 
was formerly called. The territory 
thus secured included all that portion 
lying between latitudes 42° and 49° 
north; i.e., from the present northern 
line of California to the Canadian 
boundary — about five hundred miles — 
and from the crest of the Rocky 
Mountains to the Pacific Ocean — a 
distance ranging from five hundred 
to seven hundred and fifty miles, in- 
cluding all of the present states of 
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, North- 
western Montana, and Western Wy- 
oming, amounting to nearly 300,000 
square miles. 

Out of this territory was carved 
successively the whole or parts of the 
states mentioned. The present boun- 
daries of Oregon were fixed in 1859 
and included an area of 96,000 square 
miles, equal to all New England and 
three-fifths of New York. 

The first settlement in the present 
state was probably at Astoria, in 1811, 
where the Astors had a trading post, 
and with which Washington Irving's 
book "Astoria," deals. Before 1843 
the citizens of the United States in 
the Columbia region — still claimed by 
England — numbering about four hun- 
dred, were settled in the valley of the 



Willamette and on the Walla Walla, 
as farmers, graziers, or mechanics ; 
most having come from the East under 
the guidance of various missionaries. 
A large immigration took place in 
1843 so that by the end of 1845 they 
numbered about six thousand, three- 
fourths of whom were in the Wil- 
lamette valley. 

/. The Coming of the Church 

The first Church services on the 
Columbia River were held by the 
Reverend Herman Beaver, chaplain of 
the Hudson's Bay Company, in 1836, 
at Vancouver. 

So far as known the first services 
of our Church in Oregon were held 




Dr. Nevius and old Saint Peter's, Tacoma, with 
its fir-tree bell-tower 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



at Champoeg, about thirty miles south 
of Portland, then the principal settle- 
ment on the Willamette, by the Rev. 
St. Michael Fackler, who was living 
on a "donation claim" about four miles 
from Champoeg. Mr. Fackler was 
ordained by Bishop Moore of Vir- 
ginia in 1841, and at the time of his 
coming to Oregon in 1848 was con- 
nected with the Diocese of Missouri. 
A later missionary describes Mr. 
Fackler "as about thirty-nine, in good 
appearance and an uncommonly sweet 
countenance." We shall hear much 
of Mr. Fackler later. 

The first missionary service in be- 
half of Oregon held by our Church, 
was at Saint Bartholomew's, New 
York, Sunday evening, the third in 
Lent, March 23, 1851. The English 
poet, Martin F. Tupper, was present 
and contributed four stanzas, hastily 
penned for the occasion, of which this 
is the closing: 

Then Brothers ! help in this good deed, 

And side with GOD today! 
Stand by His servant, now to speed 

His Apostolic way; 
Bethlehem's everleading star 

In mercy guides him on 
To light with Holy fire from afar 

The Star of Oregon. 

The servant referred to was the 
Rev. William Richmond, rector of 
Saint Michael's and Saint Mary's 
Churches, New York, who was ap- 
pointed by the General Board of Mis- 
sions to be its first missionary to Ore- 
gon. His field of labor was to be "the 
lower valley of the Willamette, com- 
prehending some twenty-five miles on 
the Columbia River, so as to include 
on that river the rising villages of 
Saint Helen's and Milton with Fort 
Vancouver; and on the Willamette, 
the towns of Portland, Milwaukie and 
Oregon City." 

The Reverend Mr. Richmond 
started almost immediately for his 
new field, going by way of Panama, 
and his journal and letters are full 
of interesting events which took place 



during the long and tedious voyage. 
He arrived in Portland early on Sun- 
day, the 11th of May, 1851, but did 
not hold service. "On the Fourth 
Sunday after Lent," he wrote, "I 
preached in the Methodist house of 
worship, baptized the infant daughter 
of the Rev. St. Michael Fackler, and 
presided at the election of wardens 
and vestrymen, and the organization 
of a congregation in this place. It is 
called Trinity Church. It is the first 
Episcopal congregation ever organized 
in this territory." 

Portland, then a little over a year 
old, had a population of 1,200 or 1,500, 
two places of worship — one not fin- 
ished ; a school-house ; two steam saw- 
mills; a Masonic hall, etc. Mr. Rich- 
mond described his quarters as fol- 
lows: "I occupy a room in a shanty, 
merely a clapboard, quite open to the 
air, with a rough, unplaned and un- 
grooved floor — no carpets, no plaster- 
ing and no ceiling. For this I pay 
twelve dollars a month, three dollars 
(fifteen was the price) having been 
deducted by the landlord on account 
of my mission. I also do my own 
cooking, and gather my own wood out 
of the forest behind me, and yet my 
expenses will be as great as at a good 
boarding house in New York. Wash- 
ing is now reduced to four dollars a 
dozen, and carpenters' wages are from 
eight to twelve dollars per day. Milk 
is twenty cents a quart; butter, which 
I dispense with at present, fifty cents 
a pound, and other things in propor- 
tion. I had to pay a woman two and 
a half dollars for a half day's work, 
scrubbing my floor." 

At the recommendation of the Rev. 
William Richmond, the General Board 
in New York appointed Mr. Fackler 
a missionary of the Board in Oregon, 
and he proved a most valuable assist- 
ant and adviser in the new work. 

During the week following the or- 
ganization of Trinity Church, the pro- 
prietors of the city appropriated to 
the use of the vestry an entire block 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



J 6 J 



for a church and two entire blocks 
for a seminary for men. 

On the fifth Sunday after Easter, 
May 25, 1851, the two clergymen, 
Messrs. Richmond and Fackler, or- 
ganized Saint Paul's Church in Oregon 
City, which had a population of less 
than four hundred. Mr. Richmond 
then began a tour of the territory 
touching the settlements on the Wil- 
lamette and in Yamhill County. June 
the twenty-second the Church of the 
Ascension was organized at LaFay- 
ette, and General Palmer, proprietor 
of Dayton, offered a block of land and 
part of the lumber for a church at that 
point. During the following week 
Mr. Richmond located a claim of 
some 320 acres near "Yam Hill City," 
and arranged for the building of a 
small house. For some months he 
itinerated between Portland, Saint 
Helen's and Milton on the Columbia 
and points in Yamhill County, and 
Mr. Fackler continued his services at 
Champoeg, Oregon City and Portland 
and other points on the Willamette. 

In October, Mr. Boys, of Milwau- 
kie, rowed to Portland looking for a 
Church clergyman and meeting Mr. 
Richmond arranged to have him come 
to Milwaukie. Wednesday, December 
5, Mr. Richmond, assisted by Mr. 
Fackler, held services there and or- 
ganized Saint John's Church. A call 
on Mr. Whitcomb, proprietor of the 
town, resulted in securing two lots, 
also a building for a church, the first 
in Oregon. The original building, 
somewhat enlarged, is still in constant 
use. Mr. Richmond hoped that the 
success at this point would stir up 
the people in Portland, Oregon City 
and LaFayette to like good works. 

During the winter of 1851 and 
1852— his first in Oregon — Mr. Rich- 
mond met with the difficulties usual 
at this season, impassable roads, 
swollen streams, etc. In February he 
was chilled through, by riding all day 
in a deep snow and heavy storm which 
prevented him from reaching his sta- 



tion for the day. However he man- 
aged to return to his "mountain 
cabin," and found Mrs. Richmond well 
and the school-room covered in. In 
March Mrs. Richmond opened the 
school with six pupils, which Mr. 
Richmond considered the commence- 
ment of a seminary that would in the 
future have an important bearing on 
the prospects of the Church. 

The Rev. Mr. Fackler was also a 
very busy man, holding regular ser- 
vices in five places — Champoeg, Che- 
halem City or Roger's Ferry, Oregon 
City, Milwaukie and Portland. On 
reaching Portland, one evening in No- 
vember, 1852, he found there the Rev. 
James A. Woodward, of the Church 
of the Evangelist's, Philadelphia, who 
had just crossed the plains, and wished 
to take up work. The first plan was 
for him to take over the work at 
Portland, as two members of the con- 
gregation said they would secure him 
fifty dollars per month for the present. 
But he did not accept the offer as he 
had arranged to live on the claim of 
Mr. Richmond, who, on account of 
continued ill health due to exposure, 
had decided to return to the East. 
Mr. Woodward lived at Yam Hill, en- 
gaged in teaching and in ministerial 
work there and at LaFayette and in 
the surrounding country. 

In January, 1853, the Rev Tnhn 
McCarty, D.D., under appointment 
by the General Board of Missions, ar- 
rived in Portland and planned to take 
the work there and at Milwaukie. 
During May Dr. McCarty made an 
extensive tour of exploration and 
missionary duty in Washington terri- 
tory, and later a similar tour in South- 
ern Oregon. The outcome was the 
plan to locate a missionary at Salem, 
the capital, who should minister to the 
surrounding country including Albany 
and Marysville (Corvallis). He also 
visited the many places in care of Mr. 
Woodward where work had been be- 
gun by Mr. Richmond, and extended 
his tour to Astoria. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




BISHOP SCOTT 

//. Bishop Scott, the Pioneer 

The first convocation of the Church 
in these parts was held at Saint Paul's 
Church, Oregon City, August 2, 1853, 
and was attended by three clergymen 
and a good number of laymen. A 
committee, chiefly of laymen, was ap- 
pointed to*prepare and send a request 
to the General Board asking for the 
appointment of a missionary bishop, 
recommending the Rev. John McCarty 
for that office. The General Conven- 
tion of 1853, however, had other plans. 
They organized the missionary juris- 
diction of Oregon and Washington 
and elected the Rev. Thomas Fielding 
Scott of Georgia its first bishop. He 
was consecrated in New York, Janu- 
ary 8, 1854, and arrived in Portland 
in April to "look after" Oregon, 
Washington and Idaho — a vast em- 
pire — without a single mile of rail- 
road. 

The second convocation was held in 
Portland, June 17, 1854, Bishop Scott 
presiding. As Mr. Woodward had 
been obliged to return East only two 
presbyters were present and eight lay- 
men, representing about twenty com- 
municants. The bishop gave his first 
address stating briefly what he had al- 



ready done, but dealing chiefly with 
plans for the future. Before leaving 
Philadelphia, Bishop Scott had re- 
ceived from the Bishop White Library 
Association a grant of sixty volumes, 
also, from Saint Andrew's Church, 
eighty dollars for the purchase of 
books, which formed the nucleus of 
the diocesan library. 

The convocation of 1855 met in 
Trinity Church, Portland, which had 
been consecrated the preceding Sep- 
tember. At this time the bishop was 
able to report the completion and con- 
secration of Saint John's, Milwaukie, 
and the gift of a bell ; also the conse- 
cration of Saint Paul's, Salem. The 
entire cost of the three was $6,500, 
met in part by gifts of friends in the 
East amounting to nearly $2,500. 

During the first year Bishop Scott 
began the visitation of his vast "dio- 
cese", and confirmed sixteen persons, 
only eight of whom were in Oregon; 
he also admitted one person as candi- 
date for deacon's orders. In 1856 the 
bishop secured land near Oswego, 
eight miles from Portland, for a dio- 
cesan school. Mr. Bernard Cornelius, 
an alumnus of Trinity College, Dub- 
lin, was the first teacher, and the 
school numbered seventeen boarders 
and a few day pupils. In 1858 a com- 
plete printing press with fixtures was 
received from the Sunday-schools of 
Massachusetts, and called the "Gris- 
wold Press", in honor of Bishop Gris- 
wold, of that diocese. 

In 1861 Bishop Scott opened in 
his own home at Milwaukie a "Family 
Boarding School for Girls" — Spencer 
Hall — which numbered two teachers 
and sixteen pupils, and the second 
year three teachers and thirty pupils. 
Thus with two schools, and the press 
(which was afterwards sold) and the 
beginning of a library, the foundations 
of institutional work in Oregon were 
laid. The bishop gave thirteen years of 
hard and faithful work in building 
up the Kingdom in this immense wild 
field, where, notwithstanding the 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



141 



scarcity of men and means, and the 
great odds against him, he was emi- 
nently successful. 

On account of Mrs. Scott's health, 
the bishop left for the East on the 
first of June, little thinking that his 
own end was so near. He died in 
New York on the fourteenth of July 
and was buried in Trinity Cemetery. 
At a special meeting of the clergy and 
laity, held at Trinity Church, Port- 
land, on the 17th of August, a com- 
mittee was appointed to draw up reso- 
lutions, from which we quote the fol- 
lowing : 

"His administration as a bishop 
was ever kindly and parental, and in 
all things he strove to be an example 
of that meekness and humility which 
should characterize the Disciple of the 
Lord Jesus Christ." 

At the time of Bishop Scott's death 
there were six presbyters and one dea- 
con in Oregon ; nine churches — two 
of which were in Portland — and about 
two hundred communicants. 

777. Bishop Morris, the Builder 

For nearly two years the scattered 
flock in this vast territory was with- 
out a chief shepherd. 

The General Convention of 1868 
—the Rev. B. H. Paddock of Detroit 
having declined a previous election — 
chose the Rev. Benjamin Wistar Mor- 
ris, Rector of Saint Luke's, German- 
town, Pennsylvania. He was conse- 
crated December 3, 1868, at Saint 
Luke's, and arrived in Portland June 
2, 1869. 

Bishop Morris at once began a thor- 
ough visitation of this immense field. 
Early in his episcopate several new 
works were begun. Saint Helen's 
Hall was founded in 1869, and two 
years later Spencer Hall was united 
with it. The Bishop Scott Grammar 
and Divinity School was founded in 
1870, and a year later the property 
of Trinity School, Oswego, was trans- 
ferred to it. In 1878, Mr. J. W. Hill, 
a graduate of Yale, became head 




BISHOP MORRIS 

master and continued with the School 
for twenty-three years. Saint Paul's 
School for girls, at Walla Walla, 
Washington, was begun in 1871 by 
the Rev. L. W. Wells, afterwards the 
first bishop of Spokane. This school 
soon became a flourishing institution. 
The Good Samaritan Hospital was 
opened in 1875. An orphanage was 
maintained with it for several years. 
A night-school and Sunday-school for 
the Chinese was continued with grati- 
fying results for several years. The 
Episcopal fund was begun in 1871 by 
an offering at Salem of forty-five dol- 
lars, which was set aside for that pur- 
pose. In 1879, the last year of the 
united jurisdiction of Oregon and 
Washington, the statistics showed a 
total of thirty-three parishes and mis- 
sions, served by twenty-one presby- 
ters and one deacon; communicants 
nearly nine hundred ; and a total of 
offerings $20,329, marking a gratify- 
ing increase during the first ten years 
of the bishop's work. 

With 1880 began a new stage of 
the work; the jurisdiction of Oregon 
coincided with the limits of the state, 
which had an area of 96,000 square 
miles and a population of 175,000. 
There were fifteen clergymen, besides 






How Our Church Came to Our Country 




THE BISHOP SCOTT SCHOOL. YAMHILL 

the bishop, twenty-three churches, two 
boarding schools with sixteen teach- 
ers and over two hundred pupils, a 
hospital and an orphanage. Of this 
reduced field the bishop wrote : "The 
territory left is not so very small either 
— being larger than the great states 
of New York and Pennsylvania com- 
bined, or Indiana and Illinois side by 
side. So that with its slow staging 
in dead-axe and buckboard wagons, 
its forest and mountain trails by horse 
and mule, the days and weeks of the 
year are too few to enable one to 
reach all the parts and portions; and 
we have to confess that many of the 
scattered sheep of our own fold are 
unknown and upshepherded, with no 
man to care for their souls." 

At this time the whole state was 
districted — two counties in each — and 
a clergyman assigned to each district 
whose duty, as far as possible, was 
to learn the name of every baptized 
member of the Church not enrolled in 
some parish register, which, with 
other particulars, were to be entered 
in a diocesan register, kept by the 
bishop so that he might know the con- 
dition of his scattered household. 

The slow but gradual extension of 
railroads through the state constantly 
widened the field. But for many years 
the coast towns were accessible only 
by steam or sailing vessels, and East- 
ern Oregon, especially the northeast 
portion, had to be visited by means of 
stage or private conveyance. The first 
church in northeastern Oregon to be 



organized was Saint Peter's, La 
Grande, in 1873, at which time various 
services were held in neighboring 
places, and shortly after the Rev. R. 
D. Nevius resigned the rectorship of 
Trinity Church, Portland, to give 
himself to the work of a pioneer mis- 
sionary in this distant part of Oregon. 
He was the first Church clergyman 
to reside beyond the mountains in what 
is now the district of Eastern Oregon. 
For forty years he worked here, open- 
ing new fields wherever the opportu- 
nity presented itself. Six of the first 
eleven churches in this district were 
built by him. 

In 1884 Ascension School was 
opened at Cove, on the Samuel G. 
French foundation. The first year 
there were four teachers and forty- 
nine pupils. A library of over 1,000 
volumes and a liberal supply of dor- 
mitory furniture were provided by 
friends in the East, and so the educa- 
tional work of the Church was begun 
under favorable circumstances in that 
part of the state which afterwards be- 
came the missionary jurisdiction of 
Eastern Oregon. 

During the year following May, 
1888, the Church in Oregon raised 
"within its own limits" over $13,000 
for the Episcopal Fund, thus entitling 
it to a share in the "Harold Brown" 
bequest to the General Board of Mis- 
sions to aid missionary jurisdictions 
in becoming fully organized diocese?. 
Having thus over $45,000 for the pur- 
pose, the diocese of Oregon was or- 
ganized in September, 1889, and 
Bishop Morris, twenty years after en- 
tering on this work, was elected its 
first diocesan. 

The record of the next sixteen years 
must necessarily be brief, but it is one 
of steady growth in every direction 
In 1891 the semi-centennial of the 
Church in Oregon was observed in 
the several parishes and missions and 
offerings made for the beginning of 
a Semi-Centennial Fund for the sup- 
port of diocesan missions. In 1903 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



143 



Saint Helen's Hall was placed under 
the care of the Sisterhood of Saint 
John the Baptist, who still continue to 
administer its affairs. 

In his annual address for 1905 
Bishop Morris refers to his state of 
health which made it necessary to ask 
for a coadjutor, who was accordingly 
elected. The election, however, was 
not ratified and before another elec- 
tion was held Bishop Morris entered 
into rest eternal on the eve of Palm 
Sunday, 1906, at the age of eighty-six. 
From day to day, from year to year, 
throughout his long episcopate he 
strove to do his duty as it came to 
him. He sowed, watered or planted 
as occasion served, seeking only to 
be found faithful, knowing that in due 
season he would reap if he fainted 
not. The man, above all others, to 
whom credit must be given for the 
establishment of hospital, schools, ac- 
quiring property, wise administration 
and the laying of strong foundations, 
is Bishop Morris. 

IV. The Later Days 

The Rev. Charles Scadding was 
elected the third bishop of Oregon by 
the diocesan convention, June, 1906, 
and was consecrated in Emmanuel 
Church, La Grange, Illinois. He ar- 
rived in Oregon on the twelfth of Oc- 
tober. By action of the General Con- 
vention of 1907 Eastern Oregon be- 
came a missionary district and the 
Rev. Robert L. Paddock of Holy 
Apostles Church, New York City, was 
elected ,# ts first bishop. Bishop Pad- 
dock has since carried on an intensive 
work which has been followed with a 
great deal of interest. 

The diocese of Oregon was limited 
to that part of the state lying between 
the summit of the Cascade range and 
the Pacific Ocean, measuring nearly 
three hundred miles from north to 
south and one hundred and twenty 
miles in width, with an area of about 




SAINT HELEN'S HALL, PORTLAND 

36,000 square miles (nearly the same 
as that of the state of Indiana). At 
this time there were about forty par- 
ishes and missions, 3,000 communi- 
cants and twenty clergy, a'nd a total 
offering for all purposes of over 
$45,000. The pressing problem before 
Bishop Scadding was to open the "si- 
lent churches". His policy was to 
make the diocesan institutions efficient 
and so far as possible self-supporting ; 
to unify the parishes and missions by 
impressing the fact that the diocese is 
a "family" and not a mere collection 
of isolated congregations; that the 
bishop is the father to counsel and 
inspire, the Board of Church Exten- 
sion the cabinet, the archdeacon and 
the deans of convocations the "big 
brothers" to aid the local vicars, and 
the diocesan paper the medium of com- 
munication. The family fund, "the 
war chest of the diocese", was the 
treasury of the Board of Missions, 
from which uniform salaries were paid 
the vicars, who were placed in the 




PERCIVAL LIBRARY, PORTLAND 



How Our Church Game to Our Country 




BISHOP SUMNER 



larger towns, where the Church al- 
ready held property, with the over- 
sight of work in the smaller places. 

Early in his episcopate the new 
"Bishopcroft" was erected in Portland 



and the cornerstone of the Percival 
Memorial Library was laid. In May, 

1914, Bishop Scadding took a severe 
cold, which clung to him during the 
next convention of his diocese, and 
from which he never recovered. He 
fell asleep on the morning of May 27, 
the anniversary of the death of the 
Venerable Bede. The last words of 
that saint to his pupils sum up the ex- 
hortation and prayers of Oregon's 
third bishop for his diocese: "Have 
peace and divine charity ever amongst 
you ; and when you are called upon to 
deliberate on your condition, see that 
you be unanimous in council. Let con- 
cord be mutual between you and other 
servants of Christ." 

On September 16, 1914, the Very 
Rev. Walter Taylor Sumner, dean of 
the Cathedral of Saints Peter and 
Paul in Chicago, was elected bishop 
and consecrated there on January 6, 

1915, the present bishop of Oregon. 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO 
THE OREGON COUNTRY" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

ALL public libraries contain books on 
the Oregon country, such as the 
story of the Lewis and Clark ex- 
pedition and the life of Marcus Whitman. 
Also see Chapter VI of "The Conquest of 
the Continent", Burleson. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Ask the class if they know who took the 
first wagon across the Rocky Mountains. 
Tell them the story of Marcus Whitman, 
how in response to the pathetic appeal of 
the Nez Perce Indians to their "Great 
Father" in Washington, D. C, he led a 
little band across the continent and estab- 
lished mission work at Walla Walla. 
Draw their attention to the natural re- 
sources of Oregon — not only in her great 
forests and mineral deposits, but in the 
way she helps to feed the nation. "Hood 
River apples", "Oregon prunes" and "Co- 
lumbia River salmon" are to be found in 
every grocery store. Remind them that 
in Bryant's "Thanatopsis" the river which 
he calls the "Oregon" is now known as the 
Columbia. 



TEACHING THE LESSON 

I. The Coming of the Church. 

1. Where were the first services of our 
Church held and by whom? 

2. Name the first missionary to Oregon? 

3. Which was the first parish organized? 

4. Tell something about the "high cost 
of living" in Oregon. 

II. Bishop Scott, the Pioneer. 

1. Who was elected the first bishop of 
Oregon and Washington? 

2. Tell about his first convocation. 

3. How had the number grown before 
his death? 

4. When did Bishop Scott die, and where 
is he buried? 

III. Bishop Morris, the Builder. 

1. What institutions did Bishop Morris 
found ? 

2. What division of the district was made 
in 1880? 

3. How large was the district after it was 
divided? 

4. When did Oregon become a diocese? 

IV. The Later Days. 

1. What bishop succeeded Bishop Morris? 

2. When was Oregon again divided ?How? 

3. Who became bishop of Eastern Oregon? 

4. Who is the present bishop of Oregon? 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



145 




XIX. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO VERMONT 

By Kathleen Hore 



SCIENTISTS who make a study of 
the influence of environment on 
men might well draw an argu- 
ment from the early history of Ver- 
mont. From the old Green Mountain 
State have come forth many who 
have been foremost in the councils of 
Church and State, the sons of those 
first settlers who, as rugged and en- 
during as the everlasting hills among 
which they lived, stood four-square 
and unshaken for their right to their 
two most precious possessions — liberty 
and the religion of their forefathers. 
Their struggle for the latter, only, 
comes within the province of this 
article, and for lack of space many 
honored names have perforce been 
omitted. 

/. Colonial Days 

The story of the Church in Ver- 
mont begins with that Colonial gover- 
nor immortalized by Longfellow, 
Wentworth of New Hampshire. 
Being a Churchman, he determined to 
endow the Church in his state, with its 
territorial appendage, Vermont, from 
the public lands. A half-section in 
each township was set apart and di- 
vided into four "rights": one for the 
Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel, one for the first settled min- 
ister of the Gospel, one for a glebe for 
the use of the Church, and the fourth 
for a school, but says Caswall, "the 
people from whom the surveyors were 
taken being hostile, the sections were 
located in swamps, on mountain tops, 



and in the bottoms of lakes, so that 
little else came of it but the ill-will 
of the Church." The S. P. G. accepted 
the donations made them and some of 
its missionaries made hurried trips 
into the "New Hampshire Grants" as 
they were called. 

But the honor of planting the 
Church in Vermont, and of fostering 
it through many years, belongs to the 
laity. Early in the eighteenth century 
Captain Jehiel Hawley settled in 
Arlington, on the western slope of the 
Green Mountains, and built the first 
frame house there. In that house, 
which stood and was used as a rectory 
until 1845, Captain Hawley assembled 
the people of the surrounding country, 
Sunday after Sunday, for public wor- 
ship, reading the services of the 
Church of England and sermons to 
them. This, so far as is known, was 
the first service of the Church in Ver- 
mont. Captain Hawley labored with 
so much zeal that at the outbreak of 
the Revolutionary War almost the 
whole township consisted of Episco- 
palians. When the first missionary of 
the S. P. G., the Reverend Samuel 
Andrews, journeyed on horseback 
from Connecticut as far north as Ar- 
lington in 1767, he baptized twenty- 
nine children in five different towns. 
As in 1760 there were probably not 
over three hundred white people in 
Vermont, the proportion of Church to 
State seems a large one. 

Captain Hawley's energy and far- 
reaching influence are seen by the fact 
that in 1772 a meeting was called at 



f I 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



his house to organize a parish in 
Bethel — a town seventy miles distant 
as the crow flies, and across the moun- 
tains. Dudley Chase, the father of a 
future chief justice and a bishop, was 
one of the founders of this parish, for 
which Jehiel Hawley and his son An- 
drew acted as lay-readers. In 1784 
an assessment of two shillings in the 
pound was levied for the building of a 
church at Bethel. 

In Manchester the settlers organ- 
ized themselves into a congregation as 
early as 1766, with A. M. Prindle as 
lay reader; in Wells services were be- 
gun by David Lewis when he was al- 
most the only Churchman in the town- 
ship ; in Springfield in 1773 "Several 
families of the Establishment met and 
read prayers". In all more than a 
score of parishes were established. 

Valuable as the work of these lay- 
men was, the Church naturally suf- 
fered for need of those who could 
administer her sacraments. Among 
the immigrants from Connecticut at 
the beginning of the Revolution were 
two brothers, Thomas and Bethuel 
Chittenden, both men of sterling char- 
acter and natural ability. Thomas 
afterwards became the first governor 
of the state. Bethuel, who was ten 
years the younger, settled in Tin- 
mouth, Rockland County, where, for 
lack of a clergyman, he read the 
Church's prayers and sermons to his 
neighbors. When he was forty-nine, 
at considerable pecuniary sacrifice, he 
applied for ordination. Bishop Sea- 
bury admitted him to the diaconate in 
the old church of Saint John in Stam- 
ford, in 1787. Seven years later he 
was advanced to the priesthood and 
spent the rest of his life on his farm at 
Shelburne when he was not pursuing 
the work of an itinerant evangelist. 
For thirty-four years, as layman, dea- 
con and priest, he travelled up and 
down the state, on both sides of the 
mountains, ministering wherever there 
were Church people to be reached. He 
died suddenly in 1809. 



//. A Diocese Without a Bishop 

The work of the first Churchmen 
in Vermont was difficult. They were 
few in number and widely separated 
by almost impassable roads. In an 
old letter we read of a young lawyer 
of Boston who tried to take his bride 
and some household goods to Burling- 
ton, Vermont, where he intended to 
settle. In summer the roads were im- 
possible for anything but horseback 
travel, so they had to wait for the 
sleighing season. But just as they were 
ready to start a thaw came on and the 
young man had to go alone. Next win- 
ter he returned, but the same experi- 
ence was repeated, and it was not until 
the second year that the little family — 
now three in number — was packed 
into a sleigh and made the long jour- 
ney in safety. 

Six years after the close of the 
Revolutionary War there were but two 
clergymen in Vermont. But the un- 
daunted laymen again came to the res- 
cue. On a September morning in 1790 
eighteen of them met with the two 
clergymen at the home of Nathan Can- 
field in Arlington to consider the pro- 
priety of forming themselves into a 
convention of the Church in Vermont. 
They decided to do so, and after a 
service in the church, at which the 
Reverend Daniel Barber read prayers 
and the Reverend James Nichols 
preached a sermon, they adjourned to 
the house of "Squire" Luther Stone 
for a business session. The founder 
of the church in Arlington, Jehiel 
Hawley, was not present, as "he was 
called away by an almost martyr's 
death (in persecution as a Royalist) 
before his eyes could behold the sight. 
Doubtless he soon knew it all, if not by 
other means, at least by information 
thro' others, also called from hence to 
the society in Abraham's bosom." 

No special business is recorded as 
being done at this convention, but at 
that held four years later in the same 
place, the Reverend Dr. Edward Bass 



147 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



of Newburyport, Massachusetts, was 
elected as bishop of the diocese. Ver- 
mont, however, was not destined to se- 
cure a bishop so easily. Dr. Bass ac- 
cepted the election conditionally, but 
before matters could be settled he be- 
came the first Bishop of Massachu- 
setts. A futile attempt was made to 
have Dr. Samuel Peters, a refugee loy- 
alist, consecrated for Vermont alone, 
and so for the time being ended Ver- 
mont's attempt to secure a bishop. 

Vermont continued to hold conven- 
tions, and it is from the accounts that 
have been preserved of these that we 
get some touches of personal history 
which link up the gatherings of these 
little bands of devoted men with the 
history of the Church at large. In the 
meeting of 1796 at Arlington, the one 
delegate from the eastern side of the 
great wall which runs down the middle 
of the state was a young schoolmaster 
from Bethel, who came seeking ap- 
proval as a candidate for Holy Orders. 
The approval was given, and Philander 
Chase started on his life's "adventure 
for God". Beginning in the little 
schoolhouse at Bethel, his work found 
its culmination in Kenyon College at 
Gambier, Ohio, which is his monu- 
ment. 

In spite of the lack of Episcopal 
care, the Church in Vermont con- 
tinued to grow. Christ Church in 
Fairfax was founded by two members 
of the parish of Saint James in Arling- 
ton, who journeyed through the woods 
with ox teams and as soon as they had 
built their log cabins began to have 
services whenever they could secure 
a clergyman. In the same way two 
laymen from Connecticut, Hubbard 
Barlow and Andrew Bradley, began 
services in Fairfield. They persevered 
for many years before a clergyman 
visited them. In all some score or 
more of parishes were originated and 
maintained by laymen. 

At the close of this period nearly 
all the early settlers had passed away. 
With the increase of population a new 




BISHOP GRISWOLD 

set of laymen appeared at conventions. 
The day was soon to come when Ver- 
mont would have a bishop to shepherd 
her scattered sheep. Before we leave 
this phase of her history, it is fitting 
that we pause to pay tribute to that 
valiant band, the laymen of the early 
days of the Church in Vermont — 
"those excellent and steadfast men, 
who, shoulder to shoulder, by the help 
of God, kept alive the cause of the 
Church when it seemed to be hopeless, 
from becoming utterly extinct, thus 
preserving it to better times." 

777. Two Great Bishops 

In 1809 the dioceses of Massachu- 
setts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire 
and Vermont, joined themselves to- 
gether for the purpose of securing 
Episcopal oversight without undue 
cost to any one of them, and elected 
Alexander Veits Griswold as the 
bishop of that complex organization, 
"The Eastern Diocese". Except for 
sharing in the same bishop, each dio- 
cese was to retain its independence. 
Bishop Griswold accepted the election 
and proceeded to New York, where he 
and Bishop Hobart were to be con- 
secrated at the same time. 

At the very outset of his episcopal 
career an obstacle appeared which, 
absurd as it appears now — and doubly 



IA8 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



r 




VERMONT EPISCOPAL INSTITUTE 

so in connection with a man of 
such simplicity of heart and mind 
as Bishop Griswold — threatened to 
again defer the long-hoped-for epis- 
copate in Vermont. All things were 
ready for the consecration when the 
venerable Bishop Provoost — who had 
been carried into Old Trinity in 
a chair to take part in the ceremony — 
was aghast to find that one of his co- 
consecrators had no wig on ! He him- 
self had always worn a wig; he had 
never known a bishop who did not 
wear a wig; he even doubted the le- 
gality of consecration by a wig-less 
bishop! A council was held in the 
vestry room and for a time, so insistent 
was Bishop Provoost, it seemed as if 
the new bishops would have to cross 
the seas for consecration as their pred- 
ecessors had done. The difficulty was 
happily overcome, however, by a noted 
lawyer present who remembered that 
he had seen in Lambeth Palace a pic- 
ture of the great Archbishop Tenison 
"in his own hair". Bishop Provoost 
consented to admit this precedent and 
Vermont at last had a bishop, even if 
she had to share him with three other 
dioceses ! 

The task which confronted Bishop 
Griswold in Vermont was enough to 
employ the whole energies of a man, 
whereas only one-fourth of his time 
and strength could be given to it. He 
was only able to make a visitation once 



in two years. The conditions he found 
were difficult in the extreme: the 
country was at war ; the glebes granted 
by Governor Wentworth had been 
seized by the state ; there was only one 
clergyman in the diocese. Fortunately 
his one clergyman was a tower of 
strength. The Reverend Abraham 
Bronson, who had begun his work in 
1803, divided his time between Ar- 
lington and Manchester, while half a 
dozen other parishes looked to him 
for occasional ministrations. His la- 
bors for thirty-one years were many 
and diversified. "Compelled for sup- 
port to cultivate the glebes; visiting 
the sick with great frequency; bury- 
ing the dead over a wide region ; call- 
ing upon his people in season and out 
of season; looking up the scattered 
sheep and aiding in the formation of 
new parishes" — it is no wonder that he 
was affectionately known as "Father 
Bronson". 

Under the reviving influence of a 
bishop the Church in Vermont began 
slowly to grow. In 1818 the parishes 
in Arlington and Manchester had 
doubled their communicants. On a 
visitation to Sheldon forty-nine were 
confirmed, and new parishes began to 
spring up. In Bishop Griswold's jour- 
nal is a delightful account of his visi- 
tation in 1821 to Berkshire, in the ex- 
treme northern part of the state : 

The school-house not being suf- 
ficient to contain the congregation ex- 
pected, preparations were made in a 
beautiful grove of young maples, on 
a fine rising ground, and the lumber, 
collected near the spot for building a 
new church, furnished abundant ma- 
terials for the stage and seats. Thus 
was its use anticipated, and an altar 
reared, we may almost say, with un- 
hewn stone. These materials now 
preparing to be fitly joined together in 
a regular temple, to be dedicated to 
God, suggest the thought that they 
who sit upon them are, we may hope, 
materials in preparation, — even "lively 
stones'*— to be hereafter united in a 
temple infinitely more glorious, — "a 
building not made with hands, eter- 
nal in the heavens." Many circum- 



149 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



stances conspired to heighten the 
interest of the scenery and the 
occasion. At a small distance in 
front, without the grove, which 
was semi-circular, was the in- 
tended site of the new church. 
Below, at the foot of a gentle 
descent, the road leads along the 
grove, and beyond it, for a long 
distance on either hand, the river 
Missisque is seen winding its beau- 
tiful course through an extended 
vale. And still beyond are ris- 
ing forests, fields, and hills swell- 
ing into various shapes and sizes ; 
while mountains, rearing their 
unequal and lofty summits, ter- 
minate the view. 

In the roll of. the convention 
for 1819 appears a new name, 
the Reverend Joel Clap, whose 
"long-continued endurance of 
toilsome missionary work and 
his cheerfulness through it all" 
endeared his memory to his 
people. A man who was cheer- 
ful for forty years of "toilsome 
missionary work" deserves to 
be kept in loving remembrance 
beyond the bounds of a single dio- 
cese. 

To the parish at Middlebury belongs 
the honor of furnishing the first mis- 
sionaries sent out to foreign lands by 
the newly-formed Domestic and For- 
eign Missionary Society. In 1821 the 
Reverend J. H. Hill and his wife, Mr. 
and Mrs. John J. Robertson and Solo- 
mon Bingham, printer, sailed for 
Greece, where a school for girls was 
opened in Athens which is still in ex- 
istence. The first missionary to offer 
for Africa, the Reverend Joseph 
Raphael Andrews, also went from this 
parish. 

In 1823 the long and expensive liti- 
gation to recover the glebe lands was 
ended in favor of the Church, and to- 
day the diocese receives an annual in- 
come of about $3,000 from this source. 

In 1831 Vermont severed her con- 
nection with the Eastern Diocese. To 
Bishop Griswold's wise and self-deny- 
ing labors she owed much and he was 
held in universal love and veneration. 




BISHOP HOPKINS 

Under his care the diocese had grown 
so that the necessity for co-operation 
had passed, and the convention of 
1832 proceeded to elect a bishop for 
Vermont alone. 

The new bishop proved to be a 
man of great force of character who 
has left an indelible mark on his cen- 
tury. Born in Ireland in 1792, John 
Henry Hopkins was brought to this 
country in childhood. He was edu- 
cated for a lawyer and practiced for 
some years before he studied for Holy 
Orders. He had been assistant minis- 
ter of Trinity Church, Boston, for a 
short time when he was called to be 
bishop of Vermont. His energy and 
resourcefulness are shown by the fact 
that within three weeks after his con- 
secration he had visited his new field, 
bought a house, returned to Boston 
and removed his family of fifteen per- 
sons to Burlington! Within six 
months he had visited all the parishes 
in his diocese, consecrated three new 
churches, confirmed two hundred and 




A VALLEY IN THE GREEN MOUNTAINS 



ten persons, and enlarged his own 
house so that it might include a semi- 
nary for boys on one side and one for 
theological students on the other. 
Within five years he had six candi- 
dates for the ministry under instruc- 
tion and was preparing with his own 
means a building to accommodate fif- 
teen more. In another year he had 
built a gymnasium sufficient for seven- 
ty boys, making a complete educational 
establishment. Fnding himself unable 
to equip it and pay the salaries of pro- 
fessors unaided, he asked the diocese 
to take it over, but it was a time of 
financial stringency and it was afraid 
to assume the responsibility. The 
bishop's fortune was' wrecked and he 
had to give up his project and his home. 
Through the kindness of friends some 
forest property near Burlington was 
leased to the bishop's eldest son for 
ten years, with permission to build a 
house out of the wood upon it. By the 
unremitting labor of the bishop and 
his family the wilderness was changed 
to a valuable farm, with homestead, 
and the bishop renewed his project for 
a theological seminary, taking into his 



family a few students for whose tui- 
tion he made no charge. In 1860 he 
was enabled to report the completion 
of the Vermont Episcopal Institute, 
the unincumbered property of the dio- 
cese, with academical and theological 
departments and a beautiful chapel. 

This second attempt to equip the 
diocese with a boarding-school for 
boys met with signal success. The 
Reverend Theodore Austin Hopkins, 
M.A., fourth son of the bishop, be- 
came the first principal of this Church 
Military Academy in 1860. Under his 
able leadership, assisted by the co- 
operation of his brilliant wife, Alice, 
about one thousand boys, from almost 
every state in the Union, • received a 
thorough education in a Churchly at- 
mosphere amid romantically beautiful 
surroundings, during the next twenty 
years, there being sometimes over sixty 
enrolled at one time. 

Under the undivided care 01 sucn an 
energetic bishop the number of par- 
ishes increased, although Puritan 
prejudice against episcopal ceremonies 
still lingered. At Enosburgh the 
Church people had formed an associa- 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



151 



tion "to worship according to the con- 
stitutions and canons of the P. E. 
Church". As they had no house of 
worship the Congregationalists ten- 
dered theirs, which was gratefully 
made use of until the visit of the 
bishop in 1835 when the permission 
was withdrawn on the ground that the 
Congregationalists "could not allow 
the Popish rite of confirmation in their 
house of worship". 

Bishop Hopkins was a man whose 
influence was felt far beyond the 
bounds of his own diocese. It is not 
generally known that with him origi- 
nated the idea of the first Pan-Angli- 
can Conference, in a letter to the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury in 1851. The 
year before his death he attended this 
conference at Lambeth as Presiding 
Bishop of the Church in America. His 
book on "The Law of Ritual", writ- 
ten at the time when the Church was 
rent with strife on the burning ques- 
tion of the legality of ceremonial wor- 
ship, ran through three editions in 
three months. 

It was to be expected that a man 
of such strong convictions and warmth 
of temperament should meet with some 
friction in a diocese which had for so 
long been accustomed to the mild and 
simple life of the bishop who had 
guided them through the "day of small 
things". But the diocese was quick to 
recognize the real greatness of their 
bishop. A learned theologian, an 
acute lawyer, and an eloquent preacher, 
he was at the same time a sincerely 
devout man who used all his powers to 
the glory of Christ and His Church. 
When in the first days of 1868, after 
a short but painful illness — which he 
bore without a murmur — he "fell on 
sleep", the diocese mourned a Father 
in God and the Church at large one 
of her great leaders. 

IV. The Last Half Century 

At the convention following the 
death of Bishop Hopkins the Reverend 
William Henry Augustus Bissell, D.D., 




BISHOP HALL 

a native of the state and educated in 
her university, was chosen as the third 
bishop of Vermont. During his epis- 
copate many churches were built and 
Bishop Hopkins Hall, a school for 
girls, was founded to perpetuate the 
memory of the late bishop. The most 
striking feature of Bishop Bissell's 
episcopate was the increase in mission- 
ary zeal. The parish at Middlebury, 
which gave our first foreign mission- 
aries, sent also the first missionary to 
Alaska, the Rev. John W. Chapman, 
D.D., who — though he would be the 
first to disclaim it — is one of the nota- 
ble figures in the missionary history of 
our Church. For thirty years he has 
maintained his lonely post at Anvik, 
some of the time single-handed. The 
story is told that in the early days of 
the mission the Board of Missions 
sent him a saw-mill that he might 
teach the natives to build houses in- 
stead of the miserable underground 
huts in which he had found them. A 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



traveler down the Yukon, seeing it on 
the deck of the steamboat, asked, 
"What are they going to do with that? 
Have they any mechanics down 
there?" "I guess not," was the reply, 
"but you see the missionary is a Ver- 
mont boy !" 

In 1893 Bishop Bissell, whose health 
had been failing for some time, died, 
and in the following year the present 
diocesan, the Right Reverend Arthur 
Crawshay Alliston Hall, D.D., LL.D., 
was consecrated. In 1913 he asked 
for a coadjutor and the Reverend 
William F. Weeks, D.D., was chosen 
to that office, but he only lived for a 



year and a half after his consecration 
and was succeeded by the present co- 
adjutor, the Right Reverend George 
Yemens Bliss, D.D. 

The problems which confront the 
Church in Vermont today are the rush 
of the young people to large cities out 
of the state and the influx of French 
Canadians and others. Times of re- 
adjustment are always difficult, but 
the loyal sons of the Church know 
that now, no less than in the past, 
they "have Christ's own promise, and 
that cannot fail !" In that belief they 
go forward with confident hearts. 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH 
CAME TO VERMONT" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

THOSE who have access to well- 
equipped libraries will find a mine of 
information in "The Documentary 
History of the Church in Vermont" and 
"The Journal of the Centennial of the 
Church in Vermont". Perry's and McCon- 
nell's histories of the Church will also be 
useful. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Ask how many of your class have read 
Longfellow's poem, "Lady Wentworth", in 
the "Tales of a Wayside Inn". Quote the 
description of the governor and his chap- 
lain to them. Of course they will all know 
stories of the "Green Mountain Boys", of 
Ethan Allen and Molly Stark. Show them 
that the same spirit animated the men of 
Vermont in their struggle for liberty and in 
their efforts to plant the Church. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. Colonial Days. 

1. How did Govenor Wentworth help the 
Church in Vermont? 

2. What layman held the first services, 
and where? 

3. What missionary of the S. P. G. vis- 
ited Vermont in 1767? 

4. Tell something of the life of the Rev- 
erend Bethuel Chittenden. 



II. A Diocese Without a Bishop. 

1. What sort of roads did they have -in 
the early days of Vermont, and how did 
they affect the Church? 

2. When and where was the first con- 
vention held? 

3. Why was Vermont so long without a 
bishop? 

4. What band of men kept the Church 
alive until one. was found ? 

III. Two Great Bishops. 

1. What was the "Eastern Diocese" and 
who was its bishop? 

2. What amusing incident threatened to 
defer his consecration? 

3. When did Vermont cease to belong 
to the "Eastern Diocese" and elect a 
bishop of her own? 

4. Tell something about Bishop Hopkins. 

IV. The Last Half Century. 

1. Who was the third bishop of Ver- 
mont? 

2. How is Middlebury noted among Ver- 
mont parishes? 

3. What can you tell about the first mis- 
sionary to Alaska? 

4. Who is the present bishop of Vermont, 
and who is bishop-coadjutor? 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



153 



3|oto &ux Cfmrcf) Came to &ux Country 



XX. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO DAKOTA 
By Bishop Burleson 



I. The Early Days 

DAKOTA is a vast stretch of 
country, mostly plains, lying be- 
tween the Mississippi valley 
and the foothills of the Rocky Moun- 
tains. It is higher and somewhat more 
rolling than the states which border 
immediately upon the Mississippi. On 
its western border it breaks into the 
Paha Sapa, or Black Hills, which 
though called "hills" are higher than 
the Alleghanies. The general charac- 
ter of the country is that of a high 
plateau and is traversed, chiefly from 
north to south, by the muddy waters 
of the Missouri river. 

There was not much to attract early 
settlement to Dakota. The lands were 
unprotected and were chiefly the range 
of the buffalo and antelope. It was 
the hunting ground of the Indian tribes 
who lived to the east and west of it. 

Not until 1859 did more than a few 
casual trappers and hunters come to 
Dakota, and with the first comers there 
arrived the Reverend Melancthon 
Hoyt, our first clergyman and the first 
minister of any name to serve in Da- 
kota territory. He was at that time 
stationed at Sioux City, Iowa; but 
like the stalwart Philander Chase, of 
whom his life constantly reminds us, 
he was a born pioneer. A native of 
Norwalk, Connecticut, and a graduate 
of Yale college, he was no sooner or- 
dained to the ministry than he offered 
himself to the Domestic and Foreign 
Missionary Society, who sent him out 
to Indiana, where he arrived six 
months in advance of Bishop Kemper, 
and did work at Indianapolis and 




THE REVEREND MELANCTHON HOYT 

Crawfordsville. After a few years 
there he pushed on to Michigan and 
then into Wisconsin, where he planted 
many churches. From Wisconsin he 
passed to Sioux City. Iowa, and from 
there to Yankton, South Dakota, es- 
tablishing missions at Elk Point and 
Vermillion. After others had come to 
assist in the work he pushed on to de- 
velop new territory at Swan Lake, 
Hurley and Watertown. In his later 
years he was rector at Huron and 
finally closed his work at Scotland. He 
had been in orders for over fifty-three 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



years and for more than fifty-two had 
been a pioneer missionary in Indiana, 
Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Da- 
kota. Years before the railroads came 
he traveled to and fro over the plains 
in his buggy, preaching the Gospel and 
planting missions. When he reached 
the age of seventy-six, having become 
infirm, he attempted to retire, but 
found it impossible to remain idle. 
He then wrote to Bishop Hare, "Give 
me work. I am dying of idleness. Let 
me have a trial. If I don't succeed I 
will come back to my prison." It was 
then that he was given work at Scot- 
land, with the result that his spirits 
revived, and with them his bodily 
strength and his mental vigor. He prac- 
tically completed the church at Scot- 
land before his death, that being the 
eighteenth church building he had 
erected. During his years of service 
he established over fifty parishes and 
missions. 

Along with the names of Bishop 
Kemper and Dr. Breck there is re- 
corded and remembered in the North- 
west the name of Melancthon Hoyt, 
the sturdy pioneer and man of God. 

//. The Dakota People 

As we said in the previous section, 
Dakota was not the original home of 
the Indian peoples. They dwelt in a 
more attractive country to the east and 
west of it. Some traveling bands 
there were, but the first large groups 
to reach Dakota for the purposes of 
settlement were driven out from Min- 
nesota after what was called "the 
Sioux massacre" which, those who 
know history better, prefer to call 
"the Sioux uprising". It was a mas- 
sacre, no doubt, in a certain sense, but 
as the result of criminal aggression 
and callous indifference on the part of 
the white men, both private and offi- 
cial. Treaties had been broken, the 
Indians had been plundered and were 
practically starving, while rations to 
which they had every right and title 
were withheld before their faces. 




CHRIST CHURCH, YANKTON 

Rarely has there been a more flagrant 
case of injustice and ill-treatment. 
The result was that the more turbulent 
broke forth, and ravage and murder 
resulted among the white settlers in 
the valley of the Minnesota River. 
With this crisis came the supreme test 
of our Christian Indians. Bishop 
Whipple declared that not one of them 
proved treacherous ; that no white 
blood stained the hands of one of 
those confirmed, and that as a matter 
of fact hundreds of the white people 
owed their lives to the timely warning 
and often the personal kindness and 
protection of Christian men among the 
Dakotas. 

The pity was that, though some of 
the guilty were punished, the hardest 
penalty fell upon the innocent. All 
too gladly the whites seized the oppor- 
tunity to drive them out of their an- 
cient heritage. Those who have been 
reading in these later days of the de- 
portation of the Armenians by the 
Turks have not happened upon a new 
thing in history. Many of its horrors, 
without the actual murders, were en- 
acted in the bitter winter when the 
Dakota people were sent out on the 
long trail to live or die in the plains 
of South Dakota. Among other 
things it was a veritable slaughter of 
the innocents; every child "from two 
years old and under" died as certainly 
as those who fell by the hand of 
Herod's soldiers. 

Thus pitifully began the story of the 
Indian occupation of South Dakota. 
In their extremity the Church did not 



155 




SAINT MARY'S SCHOOL, ROSEBUD 



abandon her children. Many among 
the Dakotas had already been bap- 
tized and confirmed, and their mis- 
sionary, the Reverend S. D. Hinman, 
was with them in the stockade at Fort 
Snelling, from which some went out 
to suffer capital punishment and some 
to a more lingering death on the 
march. During the time of their con- 
finement, a class was presented for 
confirmation. The first winter of the 
Dakotas was spent in about the center 
of the state on the Missouri River, 
on what is now known as the Crow 
Creek reservation. Later these Indians 
moved just over the line into Ne- 
braska where their descendants live 
today. It was here that our mission 
among the Dakota Indians really 
began, and this reservation, known as 
the Santee, has always remained con- 
nected with the district of South 
Dakota. 

It would be too long a story to tell 
how the other Indian bands were 
brought into the state. For many 
years it was a settled policy to concen- 
trate within its boundaries the Dakota 
people — the largest and most impor- 



tant nation beyond the Mississippi. 
They are gathered on nine reserva- 
tions: the Santee, in Nebraska; the 
Crow Creek and Lower Brule, in the 
center of the state ; the Yankton, Rose- 
bud and Pine Ridge on the southern 
border; Cheyenne, Standing Rock and 
Sisseton in the north center and north- 
eastern corner of the state. 

From Santee the Church soon 
crossed the river to the Yankton peo- 
ple, where the Rev. J. W. Cook spent 
many fruitful years. The Reverend 
Messrs. Cleveland, Burt, Walker and 
Swift carried it up the Missouri and 
planted it on the Lower Brule, Crow 
Creek and Cheyenne reservations. 
Later it went to the wilder tribes to 
the west, at Rosebud and Pine Ridge, 
under the leadership of the Reverend 
Messrs. Cleveland and Walker. While 
the work was growing in these cen- 
ters, and because it grew and produced 
such changes in the people, the Indians 
of Standing Rock and Sisseton repeat- 
edly sent deputations to convocation to 
plead that the Church would come to 
them also. At last, with the consent 
of the government and of the Congre- 



6G 




A ranch in the "Bad Lands 1, 




Harvest time—threshing 



SCENES IN THE DAKOTAS 



157 




OVERFLOW FROM WOMAN'S AUXILIARY MEETING, INDIAN CONVOCATION 



gational Board (to which the Sisseton 
reservation had been assigned) the 
Reverend Edward Ashley took up 
residence there, and in 1895 Standing 
Rock also welcomed the mission and 
the building of Saint Elizabeth's 
School. 

Thus it was that from reservation 
to reservation the light of the Gospel 
came, borne by faithful white pastors 
who raised up from among the people 
native helpers, and by and by native 
clergy, who were so great a factor in 
the conversion of their own people. 

///. Bishop Hare 
As early as 1868 the Church had 
realized its duty towards the outcast 
Indians; for, since the days of the 
Minnesota uprising, Bishop Whipple 
had pleaded in season and out of sea- 
son for these red children who had 
been snatched from him. In the Gen- 
eral Convention of 1865 some attempt 
was made to provide for their spirit- 
ual needs ; but the Civil War had just 
closed, there were urgent matters of 
reconstruction on hand, and there was 
little time to spare for considering the 
case of the forgotten aborigines. In 
1868, however, a missionary jurisdic- 
tion among the Indian tribes was con- 
stituted and placed under the charge 



of Bishop Clarkson of Nebraska; 
which jurisdiction, in 1871 was given 
the name of Niobrara. But Bishop 
Clarkson could give but little attention 
to it and resigned the charge of it in 
1872. The House of Bishops first 
elected Bishop Whipple; but he could 
not leave his work in Minnesota. It 
was then that they turned to the young 
secretary of the foreign committee of 
the Board of Missions, William Ho- 
bart Hare. 

This action of the Church was sig- 
nificant. It was the first and only 
instance of a racial episcopate — the 




BISHOP HARE 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



consecration of a bishop for a race of 
people rather than for a particular 
place. The choice too was unusual, 
and very much regretted by the many 
friends of Bishop Hare. Possessed of 
scholarly tastes, a man of fineness and 
cultivation, he seemed particularly 
qualified to take high place in the cen- 
ters of learning and education. One 
bishop, on leaving the place where the 
choice was made, is said to have ex- 
claimed : "The Church is always 
making the mistake of setting her 
finest men to do her common work: 
she is continually using a razor to split 
kindling wood!'-' 

Arrived at his new jurisdiction, 
Bishop Hare found an area of 80,000 
square miles over which the separate 
bands of Indians were scattered, and 
in which there were altogether nine 
stations and two sub-stations. Travel- 
ing in frontier fashion, with ax and 
pail strapped to the side of his buck- 
board, pitching his tent at night on the 
lonely prairies, he went from tribe to 
tribe winning their confidence and 
their love, and leading them to his 
Master. Sitting on a roll of shawls 
by the side of his little tent, he wrote 
to some friends in the East: "There 
is not a human being, except our own 
little party, within forty miles. The 
sun has just gone down and twilight 
is fast creeping on. There is no sound 
except the howling of a pack of prairie 
wolves. It is time to think, and think- 
ing, my thoughts turn to you, and it 
occurs to me that you will want to 
hear of the Indian schools which you 
are helping to support." 

This last sentence gives a keynote 
of Bishop Hare's labors. He saw that 
the children must be taught, and 
through them their parents. The hope 
of the Indians lay in the right sort of 
an education. The buffalo were gone, 
the lands were going, nomadic life was 
no longer possible ; they must learn to 
live under the white man's conditions 
and to meet him as an equal in under- 
standing and education. The boarding 



schools established by Bishop Hare, of 
which two have continued under his 
successors, grew out of a great need 
which they alone could meet. 

The second principle upon which 
Bishop Hare did his work was that of 
raising up teachers from among the 
people themselves. He recognized the 
principle which prevails in foreign 
missions — that only by aid of its own 
people can a race be effectively 
evangelized. Therefore he chose men 
who, first as helpers, then as catechists, 
and after a time as deacons and priests, 
were the backbone of his work among 
the Indian tribes. Nowhere has the 
layman been used more effectively 
than among the Dakota Indians. 

Bishop Hare realized that the Indian 
race must be trained to self-support 
and independence of action. Their po- 
sition as wards under tutelage was 
disastrous to their moral fibre. He did 
much for the Indians; he gave .them 
many gifts and supplied their crying 
needs ; but he taught them to be self- 
respecting, independent and responsi- 
ble; to give as they were able and to 
look forward to a still larger exercise 
of that which to the Indian is joy and 
not grief — the pleasure of bestowing. 

In 1883 the territory was divided 
into North and South Dakota and each 
was constituted a missionary district. 
South Dakota included the Indian dis- 
trict of Niobrara with Bishop Hare in 
charge, while to North Dakota, Bishop 
Walker, was elected and consecrated. 
From this time on the work among the 
white people of South Dakota increas- 
ingly demanded the time and care of 
the bishop. With the same wisdom 
that he had shown among the Indians, 
he planted the Church in this growing 
commonwealth, winning everywhere 
the affectionate regard of those who 
knew him. After thirty-seven years 
of service, by a most painful path of 
disease and suffering, Bishop Hare 
passed to his reward. His body rests 
in honor in the land to which he went 
as a stranger; but his work goes on, 



151 : 




CHRIST CHURCH SUNDAY-SCHOOL, LEAD, SOUTH DAKOTA 



and will go on through years to come. 
What Bishop White is to Pennsyl- 
vania, and Bishop Seabury to Con- 
necticut, that Bishop Hare is and will 
be to South Dakota. And in the 
Church at large the memory of him is 
as a box of ointment poured forth. 

IV. The Later Years 
With the death of Bishop Hare, Oc- 
tober 23, 1909, a commanding figure 
of the Church was removed, and 
South Dakota lost its splendid leader 
of many years. Bishop Johnson had 
been chosen as Bishop Hare's assist- 
ant but did not have the right of suc- 
cession. He was however elected by 
the Convention of 1910 as Bishop of 
South Dakota. A few months after- 
ward he was elected coadjutor of Mis- 
souri, to assist the venerable Presiding 
Bishop and felt constrained to accept, 
so South Dakota was again left with- 
out a bishop. At a special meeting, 
the House of Bishops elected Bishop 
Rowe of Alaska who was at the time 
of his election traveling in his vast dis- 
trict. As soon as the information 
reached him he telegraphed his declina- 
tion, feeling bound to remain in the 
work to which he had given such 



heroic service. Once more South Da- 
kota waited, and in the spring of 1912 
the bishops again gathered, and this 
time elected the Reverend George Bil- 
ler, Jr., who had been for four years 
dean of Calvary Cathedral, Sioux 
Falls, and had intimate association with 
and knowledge of the needs of South 
Dakota. Very hopefully and courage- 
ously did the new bishop enter upon 
his work. For eighteen months there 
had been no bishop in residence, and 
the mere visitation of the fields of 
South Dakota, with its 163 missions, 
was a tremendous task, especially 
when it is remembered that more than 
one hundred of these missions were 
on Indian reservations, remote from 
the railroads. Bishop Biller was in- 
defatigable in his journeys both within 
and without the district. He would 
gladly have confined himself to his en- 
grossing work ; but the needs of South 
Dakota were great, the Indians appeal- 
ing in their helplessness, and it was 
necessary to raise considerable sums of 
money to carry on the work. There- 
fore, in addition to the care of the dis- 
trict, it was necessary to make fre- 
quent trips to the East to secure sup- 
port. All this bore heavily on a not- 



BO 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



too-robust constitution, and after three 
years of work in which he had en- 
deared himself to his people and had 
gained an honorable place in the es- 
teem of the general Church, this brave 
young bishop fell at his post, stricken 
suddenly as he was visiting Saint 
Mary's School on the Rosebud Re- 
serve. He died within an hour, Oc- 
tober 22, 1915, leaving a stunned and 
bereaved diocese to mourn his loss. 
Thus for the third time within six 
years South Dakota had lost a leader. 
For another year the district waited 
and prayed for a fit leader. It was not 
until the assembling of the General 
Convention at Saint Louis in October, 
1916, that another election was pos- 
sible. The choice fell upon the Rev- 
erend Hugh L. Burleson, D.D., edi- 
torial secretary of the Board of Mis- 
sions, who accepted the election and 
was consecrated in the Cathedral of 
Saint John the Divine, New York City, 
December 14, 1916. Thus for the 



second time the Church sent a secre- 
tary of the Board of Missions to 
South Dakota. Bishop Burleson en- 
tered into residence and began his 
work on January 12, 1917. 

A glance at the old territory of Da- 
kota, now divided into two states and 
two missionary districts, shows some 
striking things. Where Melancthon 
Hoyt set out upon his solitary mission- 
ary journeys, less than sixty years ago, 
there are now two bishops — Bishop 
Tyler in North Dakota and Bishop 
Burleson in South Dakota. There are 
also seventy-two clergy. Two hun- 
dred and fifteen parishes and missions, 
minister to over 10,000 communi- 
cants — more than half of whom are 
Indians, won to the Cross of Christ 
by the life and labors of Bishop Hare 
and his associates. It is expected that 
within a year there will be a third 
bishop in this region working as a mis- 
sionary suffragan with Bishop Burle- 
son in South Dakota. 



CLASS WORK ON " 
CAME TO 

PREPARATION OF THE LESSON 

MUCH material for this lesson may be 
found; some in secular histories on 
Minnesota and Dakota; still more 
in the "Lights and Shadows of a Long 
Episcopate", by Bishop Whipple, and the 
"Life and Labors of Bishop Hare". See 
also chapter four of "The Conquest of the 
Continent", by Bishop Burleson. Some 
instructive articles may be found in the 
files of The Spirit of Missions for August, 
1915, February and October, 1916. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Indians are always a splendid line of ap- 
proach, especially with boys ; and South Da 
kota has the largest and most successful 
Christian work among Indians which any 
Christian body has accomplished in this 
generation — and our Church has done it. 
Or ask if they know who was for many 
years the editor of The Spirit of Missions 
and the Missionary Magazine; and do 
they know that he has now gone to be the 
bishop of South Dakota. 



HOW OUR CHURCH 
DAKOTA" 

TEACHING THE LESSON 

I. The Early Days 

1. Describe the country of the Dakotas. 

2. Who was Melancthon Hoyt? 

3. Tell some of the things he did. 

II. The Dakota People 

1". What sent most of the Dakota (or 
Sioux) Indians into Dakota? 

2. Tell something of their sufferings. 

3. What priest went with them and where 
did the work begin? 

4. Show how it spread over the reserva- 
tions. 

III. Bishop Hare 

1. What is a "racial episcopate"? 

2. Describe the young bishop of Niobrara. 

3. Tell how he went about his work. 

4. What did he accomplish? 

IV. The Later Years 

1. Who succeeded Bishop Hare? 

2. Tell about Bishop Biller. 

3. Who are the present Dakota bishops? 

4. What is the present condition of the 
Church in the Dakotas? 






•UBLISHED P.Y THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



161 



Hoto <^«r Cfmrcf) Came to &uv Country 



XXL HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO LONG ISLAND 
By the Reverend T. J. Lacey, Ph.D. 



1. The Cradle of Long Island 
Churches 

THE diocese of Long Island com- 
prises the counties of Kings, 
Queens, Nassau and Suffolk in 
the state of New York. Embraced 
within this territory are several 
parishes whose history goes back to 
colonial days. The beginnings of the 
Church in Jamaica, Flushing, Elm- 
hurst, Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Setau- 
ket and Huntington carry us into the 
eighteenth century. In 1664 Long 
Island passed from Dutch to English 
rule, but in the prosperous farming 
communities the language, customs 
and traditions of Holland remained 
firmly implanted. 

The starting point of our study is 
the town of Jamaica. Its name, 
Genego or Jameco, bears reminiscence 
of the Rockaway Indians from whom 
the site was purchased in 1656. In 
the opening years of the eighteenth 
century some Churchmen resident 
there sought the help of the Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel in 
establishing the services of the Eng- 
lish Prayer Book in their community. 
We have already heard of this society 
in previous articles of this series. It 
was founded in 1700 by Dr. Bray for 
the purpose of missionary work in 
foreign parts. America was a foreign 
field and the .Church in Long Island 
today is an effective witness to the 
value of foreign missions in general 
and the outcome of one foreign mis- 
sion in particular. The S. P. G. made 
prompt response to this Macedonian 
call and the Reverend Patrick Gor- 



don received an appointment as mis- 
sionary to Jamaica. He sailed from 
England April 23, 1702, in the ship 
Centurion. The Reverend George 
Keith was a fellow passenger and the 
Reverend John Talbot was chaplain 
of the vessel. Both these names were 
destined to take first rank in the an- 
nals of the pioneer missionary work 
in America. With so much piety 
aboard the ship had a pleasant voyage. 
The cabin was like a college of the- 
ology and philosophy. They reached 
Boston in June after a five weeks' 
trip and Gordon proceeded at once 
to New York and thence to Jamaica. 
A serious epidemic was prevailing. 
Gordon contracted fever on the jour- 
ney and died after a week's illness on 
reaching his new home. Services were 
supplied for short intervals by the 
Reverend John Bartow and the Rev- 
erend James Honeyman. The field 
however was by no means an easy one 
as the Church met active opposition 
from the Presbyterians. 

In 1704 the Reverend William 
Urquhart was inducted into the rector- 
ship. The possession of the Church 
property gave rise to bitter contention. 
This building was of stone erected in 
1699 at the junction of the present 
Jamaica and Union Avenues. Dis- 
senters and Churchmen alike laid 
claim to it. The chancel furnishings 
consisted of a Prayer Book and a 
cushion on the reading desk. The 
only heating was from portable stoves. 
There were twenty communicants out 
of a population of two thousand 
people. Mr. Urquhart's field embraced 
also Flushing and Newtown (Elm- 



162 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



OLD SAINT JAMES', NEW- 
TOWN (ELMHURST) 

Built in 1735. Some years 
ago a few changes were made 
but the original building is 
still used for the Sunday- 
school. 




hurst), both of which were strong- 
holds of the Quakers. 

Mr. Urquhart died in 1709 and the 
Reverend Thomas Poyer was ap- 
pointed to succeed him. He set sail 
from England, was shipwrecked off 
the Long Island coast but managed to 
reach his parish with his damaged 
household goods. His ministry cov- 
ered a period of very troublous years. 
Prejudice against the Church of Eng- 
land ran so high that the dissenting 
farmers refused to sell him food, and 
at one time he feared that he might 
starve to death ! Untiring in pastoral 
labors and great in personal sacrifices 
he struggled heroically with inade- 
quate financial support and disloyal 
vestrymen. He died of smallpox in 
1732 and was succeeded by the Rev- 
erend Thomas Colgan. 

Meantime the long-standing contro- 
versy over the possession of the prop- 
erty had reached an acute stage and 
was settled by a legal decision adverse 
to the Church. Thereupon Church- 
men proceeded to erect a house of 
worship of their own which was 
opened in 1734 and is described as one 
of the handsomest churches in North 
America. Mr. Colgan's rectorship 
registered steady development. Under 
his administration a building was 
erected in Newtown in 1735 which is 
standing today. In 1746 a church was 
built in Flushing. He died in 1755. 



The next incumbent was one whose 
name links the history of Long Island 
with the larger movements of the 
American Church — the Reverend Sam- 
uel Seabury, afterward bishop of Con- 
necticut, whose father was rector at 
Hempstead. Seabury came to Jamaica 
in 1757. In 1761 the parish applied 
for its charter, which was granted. 
Saint George's, Flushing, took similar 
action at the same time. Seabury 
found that Jamaica was difficult soil. 
Deism and infidelity were rampant. 
The sacraments of the Church were 
neglected and there was general re- 
missness in attending divine service. 
He served faithfully for nine years. 
After he retired from the rectorship 
there was an interregnum for three 
years until the Reverend Joshua 
Bloomer took charge. In 1770 the 
church secured a glebe through the 
proceeds of a lottery ! Lotteries were 
much in vogue and as far back as 
Rector Colgan's time a lottery was 
held for the purchase of a church bell, 
thirteen hundred tickets being sold at 
eight shillings apiece. Mr. Bloomer 
administered the parish with tact and 
wisdom in critical days. His death 
occurred in 1790. 

The Reverend William Hammell 
was the first rector in American 
Orders. He found a weak, struggling, 
dispirited congregation of twenty-one 
communicants. There were twenty- 
seven communicants in Newtown and 
thirteen in Flushing. Failing sight 
and health led to his resignation after 
five years. This was a dark period in 
the life of our communion in this 
country, and the Church in Long 
Island reflected the vicissitudes com- 
mon to the whole situation. Political 
reconstruction was the order of the 
day. Ecclesiastical interests occupied 
a secondary place in men's thought. 
Religious indifference was widespread. 
In addition to these factors there was 
a stubborn prejudice in the popular 
mind against everything "English". 
Church and state had been so closely 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



103 



identified that our Church was re- 
garded as alien — an exotic that would 
not bear transplanting and could not 
be adapted to the changed environ- 
ment. 

In 1795 Newtown became an inde- 
pendent parish. Jamaica and Flushing 
jointly called the Reverend Elijah D. 
Rattoone in 1797. At this time Trinity 
Corporation came to the aid of the 
struggling Long Island churches and 
bestowed generous financial grants — 
an action altogether creditable to the 
statesmanship of that body. In 1802 
Mr. Rattoone accepted a call to Saint 
Paul's, Baltimore. The situation at 
Jamaica was discouraging for nearly a 
decade until the coming of the Rev- 
erend Gilbert Hunt Sayres whose min- 
istry witnessed revival of interest and 
prosperity. In 1822 the old church 
gave place to a more commodious 
building. 

In 1830 Mr. Sayres was succeeded 
by the Reverend William Lupton 
Johnson, the first graduate of the Gen- 
eral Theological Seminary, whose 
memorable rectorship covered forty 
years. Thus the first parish founded 
by the Anglican Communion on Long 
Island entered on its second century 
of existence with good promise, which 
subsequent years have abundantly ful- 
filled. Grace Church is the cradle of 
the Church in Long Island. Soon 
after its organization the parishes at 
Newtown and Flushing came to birth. 
The three were independent congre- 
gations served by the same clergy- 
man. Flushing in turn was mother 
of College Point, Whitestone, Bayside, 
Douglaston and Little Neck. Verily 
the vine out of Egypt had taken root 
and was filling the land. 

77. Another Colonial Foundation 

Having traced in outline the prog- 
ress of the first missionary venture, we 
will glance at another Long Island 
parish — Saint George's, Hempstead — 
and again there is brought home 
to us our debt to the S. P. G., 




GRACE CHURCH, JAMAICA 

"One of the handsomest churches in North America" 

which early selected Hempstead as 
one of the missionary stations to 
be immediately occupied. As far 
back as 1695 William Vesey was 
lay-reader there. At a later date 
he became rector of Trinity Church, 
New York. Keith and Talbot included 
Hempstead in their missionary circuit. 
The community seemed to be well af- 
fected toward the church. In Decem- 
ber, 1704, the Reverend John Thomas 
established permanent services. He 
had spent his diaconate in Christ 
Church, Philadelphia. He went to 
London for ordination to the priest- 
hood and returned to his new charge 
where the people had the reputation 
of being better disposed to peace and 
civility than they were at Jamaica. 
The church building was the property 
of the town, not of the parish, and it 
was meagrely equipped. There was 
no Bible nor Prayer Book. The min- 
ister used his own small ones in con- 
ducting service. Mr. Thomas served 
the parish faithfully for twenty years. 
His successor was the Reverend Rob- 
ert Jenney who reports large congre- 
gations in summer, especially in the 
afternoon, and also in winter when 
sleighing was good. The sleigh offered 
a convenient means of transit before 
the automobile was in vogue. We 



LG4 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




SAINT GEORGE'S, HEMPSTEAD, 1735 

might note in passing that evening 
services were not customary before 
1787 nor favorably regarded, and 
there was no provision for lighting the 
churches. The members lived for the 
most part at a distance from the 
church. A small congregation at 
Oyster Bay was included under Mr. 
Jenney's charge. 

The parish at Hempstead received 
a charter in 1735, thus securing a cor- 
porate existence. This same year was 
marked by the opening of a new 
church building with suitable appoint- 
ments which was dedicated on Saint 
George's day with imposing ceremony. 
Governor Crosby attended the dedi- 
cation in great state accompanied by 
prominent officials and a military es- 
cort. After a ministry of seventeen 
years Mr. Jenney resigned to accept 
a call to Christ Church, Philadelphia. 

The Reverend Samuel Seabury of 
New London, Connecticut, succeeded 
Mr. Jenney. He was a man of great 
zeal, intelligent, kindly, strong and in 
vigorous health. Mounted on his horse, 
with saddle bags strapped to its side, he 
became a familiar figure in the country 
round about with his three-cornered 



hat, small-clothes and top-boots. 
He carried the ministrations of the 
Church to all parts of Queens County 
east of Jamaica and to Hunting- 
ton, where a considerable number of 
people conformed to the Church, built 
a place of worship and petitioned the 
S. P. G. that "Mr. Samuel Seabury, 
son of the worthy missionary at Hemp- 
stead, lately graduated from Yale, be 
appointed catechist, to perform divine 
service in a lay capacity with some 
small allowance." The request was 
granted and the nineteen-year-old boy 
began his religious work here as lay- 
reader. We are already familiar with 
his subsequent career as rector of 
Jamaica and later as the first bishop 
in the American Church. 

After the death of the senior Sea- 
bury in 1764 the rectorship of Hemp- 
stead was vacant for two years. The 
Reverend Leonard Cutting was in- 
ducted in 1766 and remained in charge 
during the Revolutionary war. He 
was a loyalist and his congregation 
were of the same mind. The high 
cost of living was then : ^ now a burn- 
ing problem. He complains of the 
scarcity and dearness of the necessities 
of life. The parish suffered- annoy- 
ances alike from Continental and Brit- 
ish troops, but Cutting: maintained his 
ministrations with slight interruptions 
until his retirement in 1784. The con- 
gregation then sought the Reverend 
Thomas Lambert Moore as rector. In 
1785 there took place in Saint George's 
Church the first ordination held in tfe 
state of New York. Bishop Seabury 
officiated. The candidate was Mr. 
John Lowe who was made deacon on 
November second and ordained to the 
priesthood the following day. Mr. 
Moore continued in the rectorship 
until his death in 1799. 

A successor was secured in John 
Henry Hobart, who entered on his 
duties on Whitsun Day, 1800. The 
vestry spared no effort to induce him 
to come, agreeing "to erect a barn, 
paint the parsonage and fence agree- 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



1G5 



ably to his wishes and to supply him 
with as much firewood as he shall 
deem necessary for the, use of his 
family." Hobart's brilliant qualities 
attracted the notice of Trinity Church, 
New York. Within the year he ac- 
cepted an invitation there and Saint 
George's Church found a successor in 
the Reverend Seth Hart who con- 
tinued in charge until 1829. During 
his ministry a new church edifice was 
built and Christ Church, Manhasset, 
entered on its independent career — 
the first offshoot from the old parish. 
Since then Rockaway, Glen Cove and 
Roslyn have branched off from the 
parent stem. Like Aaron's rod that 
budded the old parish gave birth to 
new and vigorous centers of life. 




Sajnt Ann's still retains the old seal. The en- 
graver's mistake in the word "church" was not 
discovered by the vestry until the seal had been 
adopted. 



III. The Church that is in 
Brooklyn 

Saint Ann's is the mother church of 
Brooklyn. There are vague traditions 
of early efforts to establish services. 
In 1774 Rivington's Gazette adver- 
tised a lottery for the purpose of 
raisjng funds to build a church at 
Brooklyn Ferry, "there being no place 
in King's County for public worship 
where the English liturgy is used." 

The first definite record of the 
establishment of Church services in 
Brooklyn is in 1784 when the Rev- 
erend George Wright officiated in a 




•=---. 



OLD SAINT ANN'S, BROOKLYN 

private house then known as Number 
40 Fulton Street. He gathered a little 
flock in a barn at the corner of Fulton 
and Henry Streets, and subsequently 
in an old British barrack, and minis- 
tered to them for a period of five 
years. In 1787 a church was incor- 
porated under the title "The Episcopal 
Church of Brooklyn." The Reverend 
E. D. Rattoone, whose acquaintance 
we have already made at Jamaica, of- 
ficiated for a short time. The church 
was reorganized in 1795 and called 
Saint Ann's, out of compliment, it us 
said, to Mrs. Ann Sands, one of its lib- 
eral benefactors. The Reverend Sam- 
uel Nesbitt was the rector. He was 
succeeded by the Reverend John Ire- 
land in 1798. A stone church was built 
in 1805 when there were seventy-eight 
communicants. The Reverend Henry 
J. Feltus became rector in 1807 and 
remained seven years. He was suc- 
ceeded by the Reverend J. P. K. Hen- 
shaw, who afterward became bishop 
of Rhode Island. The Reverend Hugh 
Smith was next, and his successor was 
the Reverend Henry Ustick Onder-t 
donk, who entered on his work in 
1819. There were about one hundred 
and fifty communicants. Under his 
administration a new church was 
erected and consecrated in 1825 by 
Bishop Croes acting for Bishop 
Hobart who was then absent in 
Europe. Bishop William White 






)G 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




CATHEDRAL OF THE INCARNATION, 
GARDEN CITY 

preached the consecration sermon. A 
class of seventy-two persons received 
confirmation. Mr. Onderdonk was 
elected assistant bishop of Pennsyl- 
vania and retired from Saint Ann's 
in 1827. The next rector was the Rev- 
erend Charles P. Mcllvaine who ad- 
ministered the parish with great suc- 
cess for six years until he accepted an 
election as bishop of Ohio. 

The first offshoot from the present 
parish was Saint John's Church, organ- 
ized in 1826 in a building erected by 
the minister, the Reverend Evan M. 
Johnson, at his own expense on his 
own grounds. In 1833 Saint Paul's 
Church was organized. It was short- 
lived, met insurmountable financial , 
difficulties, was dissolved and reor- 
ganized as Calvary, which in turn gave 
place to Holy Trinity, one of the most 
influential centres of Church life in 
the diocese. Christ Church, Clinton 
Street, was organized in 1835. Trinity 
Church, Clinton Avenue, was organ- 
ized in 1835 and reorganized later as 
Saint Luke's. Saint Mary's Church 
was organized in 1836. 

In 1851 there was incorporated what 
has become the greatest benevolent 



enterprise of the diocese — the Church 
Charity Foundation, which embraces 
today a hospital, nurses' home, an or- 
phanage, a home for the blind, a home 
for the aged. The property was dam- 
aged by fire a year ago and a move- 
ment is now under way to rebuild the 
entire group of institutions on a vastly 
enlarged scale and with modern and 
up-to-date equipment. 

IV. Formation of a Separate 
Diocese of Long Island 

Prior to the Revolution the scattered 
congregations on Long Island, in com- 
mon with the rest of the country, 
were under the episcopal jurisdiction 
of the Bishop of London, who exer- 
cised his oversight through commis- 
saries. Church buildings were not 
consecrated ; confirmation was not ad- 
ministered; candidates for Holy 
Orders must make the long, perilous, 
expensive journey to England for or- 
dination. For one hundred and sev- 
enty-five years the Church in America 
was hampered by incomplete organi- 
zation. The centralizing force of the 
episcopate was lacking. At the close 
of the war the succession was secured 
from the English Church with the 
greatest difficulty. We have already 
in these papers seen the beginnings of 
American episcopacy through the 
Scottish Church with Seabury in Con- 
necticut. In 1787 Provoost was con- 
secrated bishop of New York in Lam- 
beth Chapel. The churches in Long 
Island now passed from under the 
jurisdiction of the Bishop of London 
and became part of the diocese of New 
York. The visit of the bishop was a 
great event in the life of a Long Island 
parish where generations had lived 
and died without confirmation. The 
episcopal robes were an object of won- 
der and an incident related by Seabury 
in Connecticut illustrates the situation 
amongst us. Two farmers were en- 



167 




PROPOSED PLAN FOR THE CHURCH CHARITY FOUNDATION 



gaged in conversation. One said: 
"Well, Jim, I heerd the bishop." "You 
did, eh?" rejoined the other. "What 
sort of a fellow is he? Proud?" 
"Proud! Lord bless you, no! He 
preached in his shirt sleeves !" 

In the fall of 1787 Provoost con- 
firmed one hundred and fifty-five per- 
sons in Hempstead. In June, 1802, he 
confirmed a class of ninety-seven in 
Flushing, in which masters and ser- 
vants, slaves and free, knelt side by 
side. This, was the first confirmation 
held in Flushing. Confirmation was 
not administered in Jamaica until Oc- 
tober 15, 1808, when Bishop Moore 
confirmed a class of thirty. In July, 
1814, Bishop Hobart confirmed twen- 
ty-three. In 1822 Bishop Hobart con- 
firmed sixty in Flushing. 

The churches in Long Island, . first 
under the bishop of London and then 
under the bishop of New York, were 
destined in 1868 to have a bishop of 
their own. In this year the diocese of 
Long Island was organized and the 
primary convention made choice of a 
bishop in the person of the Reverend 
Abram Newkirk Littlejohn, rector of 
the Church of the Holy Trinity, 
Brooklyn, who was consecrated to of- 



fice in 1869. The new diocese be- 
gan its independent life with seventy- 
five parishes and ninety clergymen in 
that year. Today we report one hun- 
dred and seventy clergy and one hun- 
dred and forty-eight churches. 

In less than ten years after its or- 
ganization the diocese found itself in 
possession of a magnificent cathedral, 
see house and schools, the gift of Mrs. 
Stewart in memory of her husband, 
Alexander Turney Stewart. It is lo- 
cated at Garden City within the origi- 
nal limits of the parish of Hempstead. 
The Cathedral of the Incarnation 
stands as a memorable achievement of 
Bishop Little John's early episcopate. 
His administration, extending over a 
period of thirty-two years, was marked 
by great material development. He 
bequeathed to his successor a strong, 
harmonious diocese. 

The convention met in Garden City 
in November, 1901, and elected the 
Reverend Frederick Burgess to be sec- 
ond bishop of Long Island. 

The first bishop laid foundations 
strong and sure. His work was one of 
organization and gathering resources. 
The keynote of the present adminis- 
tration is expansion. Rapid changes 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



of population are taking place, both in 
rural Long Island and in Brooklyn, 
and the Church is rising nobly to the 
task of meeting the problems of a new 
situation. Progress is registered in 
the increased efficiency of the diocesan 
schools and the proposed rebuilding 
of the House of Saint Giles the 
Cripple and the Church Charity 
Foundation. Both movements are al- 
ready under way. 

As we look back over the vicissi- 
tudes of two hundred years of Church 
life in Long Island we may well ex- 
claim "What hath God wrought!" 
The achievements are His work. 



Class Work on 




BISHOP BURGESS 



How Our Church Came to Long Island 

PREPARATION OF THE LESSON 

ATERIAL may be found in Dr. 



„':! 



Y/l Ladd's "Origin and History of 
- LTX Grace Church, Jamaica"; "History 
of Saint George's Parish, Flushing" by 
J. Carpenter Smith; "History of Saint 
George's, Hempstead" by William H. 
Moore ; or "Saint Ann's Brooklyn : Past 
and Present." A wealth of matter can be 
gathered from the early history of New 
York and Long Island as a setting for the 
strictly ecclesiastical events. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Begin by showing the flag of the city 
of New York, explaining the significance 
of its colors and design. This will arrest 
attention. Say a word about Holland — 
the dikes, the Hague and the Peace Con- 
ference. Show some pictures of the wind- 
mills, wooden shoes, etc., leading up to 
the Dutch settlements of Manhattan and 
life and travel in colonial days. What 
were the conditions of mail and passen- 
ger service between New York and the 
Long Island towns? 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. The Cradle of Long Island Churches 

1. Where have you heard of the S. 
P. G. before? of Keith and Talbot? 

2. Who was the first missionary ^ to 
Jamaica? What happened to him. Which 
missionary was shipwrecked? 

3. What difficulties did the church in 
Jamaica encounter and how did Rector 
Colgan solve them? 

4. Describe the effect of the Revolution 
on Church life. 



II. Another Colonial Foundation 

1. Who was the pioneer missionary in 
Hempstead? What lay-reader preceded 
him? 

2. Describe the dedication of Saint 
George's Church. Was the building con- 
secrated? Why not? 

3. Tell about the rectorship of the Rev- 
erend Samuel Seabury. What did his 
son become? 

4. What was the effect of the Revolu- 
tionary War on the church at Hemp- 
stead? 

III. The Church That Is in Brooklyn 

1. Locate Brooklyn and describe the 
beginnings of the Church there. 

2. What was the origin of the name of 
Saint Ann's Church? Name some rectors 
who became distinguished Church leaders. 

3. Which parish was the first offshoot 
of Saint Ann's? 

4. What great benevolent institution 
of the diocese exists in Brooklyn? When 
was it founded? 

IV. Formation of a Separate Diocese of 
Long Island 

1. To what bishop did a candidate go 
for ordination in 1717? In 1817? In 
1917? 

2. Who was the first bishop of New 
York? 

3. In what year did Long Island be- 
come a separate diocese? Who was its 
first bishop? 

4. How did the diocese come into pos- 
session of its cathedral and schools? 
Where are they located? 

5. Who is the present bishop? In what 
way is the diocese a justification of 
foreign missions? 



PUBLISHED P.Y THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



169 




XXII. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO MISSISSIPPI 
By the Reverend Nozvell Logan, D.D. 



I. Under the Spanish Flag and 
Later 

IT was, we discover, in the year 
of our Lord 1792 — when the 
greater part of what is now the 
state of Mississippi (all, in fact, which 
was not a howling wilderness) was 
included in the Natchez District of 
West Florida — that the Reverend 
Adam Cloud came from Virginia and 
settled on Saint Catherine's Creek in 
Adams County. For three years he 
ministered to the people, baptizing 
their children and burying their dead 
and preaching when opportunity of- 
fered. At the end of that time he was 
arrested by the Spanish authorities and 
sent to New Orleans in irons, to be 
tried for the offence of preaching, bap- 
tizing, and marrying people, contrary 
to the laws of the existing govern- 
ment. 

After a long delay the governor, 
Baron de Carondelet, offered him the 
alternative of being sent to Spain for 
trial or of leaving forever the Spanish 
dominions. He very wisely chose the 
latter alternative, and spent the next 
twenty years of his life in South Caro- 
lina and Georgia. Mr. Cloud returned 
to Mississippi in 1816 and in 1820 
organized the parish of Christ Church 
at Church Hill — that was the begin- 
ning of the Church in Mississippi. 

In 1822 the Reverend James Pil- 
more organized the parish of Trinity, 
Natchez, and began the erection of a 
substantial church, which was com- 
pleted in 1823. It was a long oblong 
building with an immense dome on 
top, which being covered with tin glit- 
tered in the sunlight and furnished a 



landmark at a great distance, giving 
the building the sobriquet of "the 
round-top church". About the same 
time the Reverend James Angel Fox 
entered upon his long and useful min- 
istry of more than seventy years. 
"Parson Fox" was more than six feet 
tall, of heroic build, and of indomitable 
courage. He left a most interesting 
diary, now unfortunately lost, in which 
he notes the building of the church at 
Church Hill by Mr. Cloud and puts 
the date at 1818. This, he says, "was 
the first building and the beginning of 
the establishment of the P. E. Church 
in Mississippi." Some extracts taken 
by the writer from this diary, give a 
curious picture of life in southern 
Mississippi in those early days. 




THE REVEREND JAMES PILMORE 



70 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




"PARSON FOX" 

Describing a journey on horseback 
from Columbia, Marion County, to the 
Gulf Coast, Mr. Fox says : 

"This country in many places, espe- 
cially on Pearl River where there are 
cane-brakes, is infested with bears and 
other wild animals, among which the 
tiger (wild-cat?) is frequent. A man 
who plants corn on Pearl River told 
me that within the last three years he 
had killed forty-two bears, and another 
informed me that a few days ago, two 
of his neighbors were pursued by a 
herd of tigers. They counted fourteen ; 
of these they killed one and wounded 
others-. The herd then retreated/' In 
one place on Pearl River he spent the 
night with "three men and their wives, 
a young lady and myself, and six chil- 
dren of various ages from four to 
fourteen in a room; the only room in 
the house ; little more than, twelve feet 
square." He, being the guest, was 
given a bed, and there were three other 
beds. He does not say how they man- 
aged, but "left for Pearlington after 
breakfast, reflecting how much we suf- 
fer from over refinement and how few 



things are necessary to supply the real 
wants of life ! We had coffee without 
cream or sugar ; not even a tallow can- 
dle, its place supplied by a lightwood 
torch; yet even in this house I ob- 
served superfluities. Two of the beds 
were surrounded with curtains of cot- 
ton net work, curiously wrought !" 

He found the people very fond of 
dancing, of which Parson Fox did 
not much approve. "Having arranged 
to preach at Pearlington," he says, 
"one person remarked that as they 
were all assembled it would be very 
convenient to have a little dance, after 
the sermon was over!" He at last 
reached General Ioor's plantation at 
Bay Saint Louis and went with him 
to the village of Chikapolu on the 
northwest side of the bay, afterwards 
called Shieldsboro and now known as 
Bay Saint Louis. This untiring pioneer 
built Saint Paul's, Woodville, which 
vet stands, a monument to the honesty 
of the builders of one hundred years 
ago, and organized Saint John's, now 
Saint James's, Port Gibson; and then 
these four feeble parishes, the largest 
numbering thirty-five communicants, 
proceeded to organize the diocese of 
Mississippi, and to elect delegates to 
the General Convention ! 

II. The Formation of the 
Diocese 

The first convention of the diocese, 
which met in Natchez, May 17, 1826, 
comprised four clergymen and twelve 
laymen — among them names promi- 
nent in the annals of the state and the 
nation. The clergymen and their 
parishes were Albert A. Muller of 
Natchez, James Pilmore of Church 
Hill, James A. Fox of Woodville and 
John W. Cloud of Port Gibson. The 
Reverend Adam Cloud — suffering, 
says Mr. Fox in his diary, from a 
partial loss of voice and other in- 
firmities — though still residing in Jef- 
ferson County was not present. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



171 




TRINITY CHURCH, NATCHEZ 

The brief space allotted to this 
article will not suffer us to follow 
very closely the growth of this vine 
planted in a faith so sublime and a 
spirit so heroic. 

And so we pass on to discover that 
in 1835, having been duly authorized 
by the General Convention, delegates 
from the dioceses of Alabama and 
Mississippi, "and the clergy of the 
Church in Louisiana" met in New Or- 
leans to elect a bishop for a proposed 
Southwestern Diocese. The Reverend 
Francis L. Hawks, D.D., was chosen, 
but declined his election; and the 
project was abandoned. 

Though we read of a visitation by 
Bishop Kemper about this time, the 
Right Reverend Leonidas Polk was 
the first who exercised episcopal juris- 
diction in Mississippi, from 1838 until 
1841, when Bishop Polk having been 
made bishop of Louisiana, the Right 
Reverend James H. Otey of Tennessee 
was by the convention of that year 
chosen provisional bishop. 

The convention continued to meet, 
year after year and the diocese to grow 
steadily if slowly, in the number of 
parishes and communicants. In his 
annual address of 1844, Bishop Otey 
strongly urged the necessity of a dio- 
cesan for Mississippi and the conven- 
tion, then numbering sixteen parishes 
and missions proceeded to the election 
of a bishop. The Reverend David C. 
Page of Natchez was first chosen by 
the clergy and afterwards the Rever- 
end Nicholas H. Cobb of Ohio, but 



both of these nominations failed of 
confirmation by the laity. 

Dr. Hawks, then rector of Holly 
Springs, Mississippi, was finally 
elected; but the General Convention 
failed, owing to some technicality, to 
confirm the election of Dr. Hawks and 
Bishop Otey remained in charge of the 
diocese. 

HI. The First Bishop of 
Mississippi 

The twenty-third annual convention 
met in Natchez, May 17, 1849. Bishop 
Otey having again resigned as pro- 
visional bishop by reason of age and 
accumulated labor, the Rev. William 
Mercer Green, D.D., of North Caro- 
lina was unanimously elected the first 
bishop of Mississippi. He was conse- 
crated on Saint Matthais's day, 1850, 
Bishop Otey being the consecrator as- 
sisted by Bishops Polk, Cobb and 
Freeman. The journal of the first con- 
vention over which Bishop Green pre- 
sided shows a list of twenty clergymen 
and twenty-seven parishes. 

During the period of the war be- 
tween the States, the diocese of Miss- 
issippi united with the other Southern 
dioceses in a convention which formed 
that branch of the Holy Catholic 
Church known for four brief years as 
'The Protestant Episcopal Church in 
the Confederate States of America." 




SAINT ALBAN'S, BOVINA 



m 




BIS£ 





BISHOP OTEY 



BISHOP POLK 



Upon the return of the states to the 
Union, Mississippi, with the other dio- 
ceses of the Confederate States, re- 
sumed her connection with the Gen- 
eral Convention of the Church in these 
United States. 

During Bishop Green's administra- 
tion the Church continued to advance, 
though hindered by events of unusual 
character and far-reaching conse- 
quence. The bishop, never a strong 
man physically, had to contend with 
difficulties in the discharge of his 
duties now hardly credible, and which 
made the annual visitation of his dio- 
cese a serious task for one, who, when 
he entered upon it, had already passed 
the meridian of life. 

Mississippi has been always an ag- 
ricultural country, with no large cen- 
ters of population, and the "parishes" 
which the good old bishop visited were 
often merely chapels, erected by the 
wealthy planters, or by two or three 
together, and maintained at their own 
cost for their families and neighbors — 
and servants. For these last were not 
neglected in the "daily ministrations". 
No Southern gentleman ever called his 
negroes slaves. They were his people, 
in a sense members of his family, and 
so regarded ; a fact, not well enough 
understood, which accounts for their 
faithfulness and loyalty in the times 
which tried men's souls. 

In due time the upper part of the 
state, which when our story begins 



was part of South Carolina and 
Georgia, was settled, and churches 
were built in the prairie land of the 
North East, and in the Yazoo-Missis- 
sippi Delta. The travel during the 
early part of Bishop Green's episco- 
pate was all by steamboat or stage or 
private conveyance. There was only 
one railroad in the state, from Wood- 
ville to the Mississippi River, about 
thirty miles long, built of flat iron 
rails upon cedar crossties, strangely 
enough the oldest railroad in the 
United States, with, possibly, two ex- 
ceptions. 

And so the dear old bishop did a 
work of which no human record can 
be made. 

At length in the thirty-sixth year of 
his episcopate he asked that an as- 
sistant be given him and in the fifty- 
fifth annual Council an effort was 
made to give the aged bishop the 
needed assistance. Again, however, 
three futile attempts were made, for, 
somehow, Mississippi has always had 
a hard time in electing her bishops. 
Bishop Adams, now the venerable 
diocesan of Easton, and Dr. Drysdale 
of New Orleans were in turn elected 
by the clergy and declined by the laity ; 
and Bishop Wingfield of Northern 
California, finally chosen by both or- 
ders, proved unwilling to give up his 
important work. A special council 
meeting in the fall of the same year, 



173 






BISHOP GREEN 



BISHOP THOMPSON 



BISHOP BRATTON 



however, unanimously elected the Rev- 
erend Hugh Miller Thompson, S.T.D., 
who became assistant bishop, as the of- 
fice was then designated. 

On May 8th, 1884, Bishop Green 
transferred the administration of the 
diocese to his coadjutor and retired to 
Sewanee, where as chancellor of the 
University of the South, of which he 
was one of the founders, he continued 
to reside, making brief annual visita- 
tions to his diocese until called to his 
reward, February 13th, 1887. In a 
beautiful memorial sermon delivered 
before the council of 1887, Bishop 
Adams says : 

Our bishop was meek and lowly in 
his own eyes, making much, and some- 
times too much, of them that feared the 
Lord. "In honor," says the Holy 
Apostle, "preferring one another" but 
he ran beyond the Apostolic canon and 
in everything preferred others to him- 
self. Let us look for a moment at 
the period of his episcopate. 

He was consecrated February, 1850. 
Thence followed eleven years which we 
may call Day — in which a man ought 
to work. 

Then came the war ; four years. 

Following these, ten years during 
which the whole state lay prostrate and 
bleeding at every pore. When these 
ten years were ended and the night, 
the long night, was fairly over, our 
bishop was now in the seventy-eighth 
year of his age. He was never a strong 
man and seventy-eight years are a 
heavy load to bear. 



But to his honor, be it remembered 
ever, that even at this age, he held the 
diocese together during a crisis that 
threatened the very life of many of our 
Southern churches ; and, who does not 
know that there are conditions, when, 
merely to maintain life and organiza- 
tion, a force is needed, that, under fa- 
vorable auspices would manifest itself 
in a decided and rapid onward move- 
ment. 

It is interesting to note that during 
the war, his aged and venerable form 
was familiar to both armies ; that he 
was enabled to do, what perhaps no 
other man in the state could have done. 
He visited both within and without the 
lines of the contending armies. He 
held up his Episcopal banneret; and he 
held it full high, advanced, and the 
Stars and Stripes and the Stars and 
Bars willingly made way for it. Again 
and again, he passed through the lines 
of the besieging and the besieged upon 
a mission against which there is no law. 

It was perhaps his highest earthly 
ambition, if one can so call it, to labor 
on until the last moment. He desired 
no repose here ! But he found that his 
spirit was beyond his strength and the 
decays of time laid hold upon all that 
belonged to them and as he was now 
trenching upon ninety years and his 
eyes caught the twilight dawn of his 
century's last decade, his Lord called 
him aside from the multitude for a little 
while for rest in his mountain home. 
The little while soon passed. He came, 
for whom our bishop tarried; and he 
left us; and so ends the record of a 
long life that grew brighter and 
brighter on to the perfect day. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




SAINT COLUMB'S, BATTLE HILL 

IV. Thirty- five Years of Growth 

Bishop Thompson, born in London- 
derry, Ireland, was brought by his par- 
ents to America in infancy. He was 
educated at Nashotah, where, for ten 
years, he held the chair of ecclesiasti- 
cal history, at the same time serving 
parishes in Wisconsin and Illinois. As 
editor of the American Churchman, 
and afterwards of the Church Journal, 
his name became known throughout 
the Church to which also he did serv- 
ice which can never be overestimated, 
as the author of First Principles, The 
World and the Logos, and other like 
writings. 

Bishop Thompson's administration 
was marked with progress in all 
Church work despite the burdens of 
financial trouble and a latent malady 
which brought to a close his most use- 
ful life. He died in the twentieth year 
of his episcopate and the fortieth of 
his service in the ministry of the 
Church. November 18th, 1902, Bishop 
Thompson entered into rest and was 
buried in Saint Columb's Chapel, on 
Battle Hill. This chapel, he had built 
as a memorial to his much loved prede- 
cessor, very near the episcopal resi- 
dence which had during his adminis- 
tration taken the place of the house 
once occupied by Bishop Green and 
destroyed by the Federal forces in the 
war between the states. 

In January, 1903, a special council 
met and elected the Reverend Arthur 



S. Lloyd, D.D., to be bishop of the 
diocese. Dr. Lloyd, general secretary 
to the Board of Missions, unwilling at 
that time to leave his important post, 
declined. The Reverend Theodore 
DuBose Bratton, D.D., of South Caro- 
lina was unanimously elected, and, by 
the grace of God, accepted. 

Bishop Bratton was consecrated on 
the feast of Saint Michael and All 
Angels, 1903, and entered heart and 
soul upon that active administration 
of the diocese which marked his acces- 
sion to the episcopate. Fourteen years 
have now passed and for those who 
love statistics the result may be read 
in part, in the place where such things 
are found. But only in part; for 
figures may only indicate the awakened 
spiritual life which is behind them, 
and the renewed vigor which has been 
by God's grace and the wonderful per- 
sonality of our devoted bishop, infused 
into every department of the Church's 
work. 

The diocese of Mississippi has al- 
ways taken a large interest in educa- 
tion but strangely enough, only two of 
her institutions of learning, All Saints' 
College and the industrial school for 
negroes, both at Vicksburg, survive. 
In 1844 the Reverend Dr. Hawks 
founded Saint Thomas Hall at Holly 
Springs "under the auspices of the 
Episcopal Church." It achieved a high 
reputation, but during the war between 
the states the buildings were almost 
destroyed and the work was aban- 
doned. It was afterwards reopened 
by the Reverend Peter G. Sears, but 
on his removal to Texas the work was 
finally relinquished. 

We read in the old annals of the 
diocese of an academy at Pinckney- 
ville, of a school for girls near Wood- 
ville, conducted by "Parson Fox" and 
his good wife; of Saint Andrew's Col- 
lege, Jackson ; of the Bishop Green 
Training School at Dry Grove, which 
in its day gave more than one mission- 



75 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



ary to the Church ; of the Pass Chris- 
tian institute on the Gulf Coast, and 
others, which for one reason or an- 
other have passed away. 

But the Church in Mississippi has 
never confined her interest in enter- 
prises for educational and social wel- 
fare to the limits of her own com- 
munion.' The industrial college in Co- 
lumbus owes its inception to a Church 
woman and its very existence to the 
zeal, against stubborn opposition, of 
one of the present vestrymen of Saint 
James's, Port Gibson. The first care 
of Bishop Bratton in coming to the 
diocese was for education, and All 
Saints' College, the pride and pet of 
the diocese, will remain a monument 
to his courage and untiring energy 
when things of seemingly greater mo- 
ment shall have been "clean put out 
of sight forever." 

. Nor has Mississippi been neglect- 
ful of her duty to the so-called colored 
people who form so large a part of 
her population. 

In one of Bishop Green's early jour- 
nals we read of a visit at Christmas 
time to one of the plantation neighbor- 
hoods below Vicksburg: 

On Sunday I had the usual services of 
the day. The room was filled chiefly 
with the slaves of the estate, and I was 
glad to see that their owners had not 
been unmindful of the responsibility 
incurred on their account. In the 
evening the same congregation was be- 
fore me, and in fulfillment of my prom- 
ise of the morning I addressed them 
on the subject of confirmation. At the 
close of the service I laid hands on 
six of them, some of whom had been 
baptized by me in the morning. The 
next day, Monday, I baptized twenty- 
three colored children ; and I was 
pleased to see the two individuals, to 
whose hands these immortals had been 
providentially committed, nobly stand- 
ing forth as their Godfather and God- 
mother on this occasion. 

And so, following this early prece- 
dent, the diocese still cares for these 
people, though no longer in the same 
sense responsible for them. 




VICKSBURG INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 
Model house made by one of the pupils 

An industrial school attached to the 
pioneer negro mission of Saint Mary's, 
Vicksburg, is doing good work under 
the care of our faithful and most 
worthy colored archdeacon, the Rev- 
erend Temple Middleton, who has 
supervision also of the missions for 
the colored people in Vicksburg, 
Natchez, Jackson, Mound Bayou, 
Gulfport, and Greenville. 

This most important work has been 
greatly helped by the liberal contri- 
butions of our brethren in the more 
prosperous Northern dioceses ; whom 
may God reward ! 

Mississippi has ever taken a deep 
interest in the missionary work at 




VICKSBURG INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 
Bookcase made at the school 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



home and abroad. Though, as 
Bishop Thompson was fond of claim- 
ing, "it was never a missionary dis- 
trict, but sprang full fledged into a 
diocese at its birth" it has neverthe- 
less always been missionary field ; 
never boasting more than eight or ten 
self-supporting parishes, and acknowl- 
edging with profoundest appreciation 
the aid so generously extended her 
through the General Board of Mis- 
sions. That she has done no more 
than she has done for the great cause, 
so dear to the heart of the Church of 
our Faith is the result, not of dis- 
inclination, but purely for want of 
ability. 

We are an agricultural people, and 
have found the boll weevil, and its 



like, as deadly a foe, almost, as the 
submarine. 



And 



so- 



"Who will may read the story of 
Sordello!" 

That the future of the diocese is 
full of promise is due, under God's 
providence, to the zeal and untiring 
energy of our much-loved bishop, who 
has so won the confidence of clergy 
and laity that they have worked to- 
gether in such accord as to have ac- 
complished many things once thought 
to be impossible : and will accomplish 
more. 

God send that he be with us for 
many years to come ! 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH 
CAME TO MISSISSIPPI" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON II. The Formation of the Diocese 



FOR the historical setting consult any 
American history. Many volumes on 
Mississippi can be found in any library. 
If you have time, glance over William M. 
Polk's Leonidas Polk, Bishop and General. 
(Longmans, Green and Co.) Also your 
public library should furnish interesting 
details of Bishops Green, Thompson and 
others. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Bring out any historical facts which you 
consider interesting and emphasize the im- 
portance of Mississippi from an industrial 
and economic standpoint. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 

I. Under the Spanish Flag and Later 

1. Which one of our clergy first went to 
Mississippi? 

2. With what result? 

3. Tell some facts of "Parson Fox" and 
his work. 



1. How many delegates composed the 
first diocesan convention? 

2. What of Bishop Polk? 

3. How did Bishop Otey help and sustain 
the Church in Mississippi? 

III. The First Bishop of Mississippi 

1. Who was the first bishop of Missis- 
sippi? 

2. How long a period did his episcopacy 
cover? 

3. Mention some of the points which 
characterized Bishop Green as brought out 
by Bishop Adams. 

IV. Thirty-five Years of Growth 

1. Tell what you can of Bishop Hugh 
Miller Thompson. 

2. Who is the present bishop of Missis- 
sippi? 

3. What has the Church in Mississippi 
done to help the Negro? 

4. Why is the future full of promise, and 
how can the individual Christian help to 
make those good prophecies come true in 
his diocese? 



'UBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



177 





INDIAN COUNCIL HOUSE 



XXIII. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO MICHIGAN 

By the Reverend Paul Ziegler 
Registrar of the Diocese of Michigan 



"I 



/. Small Things, But a Great 

Future Foreseen 

F thou seekest an agreeable 
peninsula, look about thee." 
The arms of the state of Michi- 
gan bear in Latin this device, and the 
citizens of the peninsular state have 
from the beginning viewed their herit- 
age with complacent pride. Indeed 
how can one fail to see Michigan on 
any map of the United States or of 
the Western Hemisphere? Now the 
eighth state in the Union in popula- 
tion, w T ith fifty-eight thousand square 
miles of territory, measureless re- 
sources, its chief city now the fourth 
of the Union in population, Michigan 
has always had great expectations and 
high ideals, some of which it is now 
realizing. 



Several years before Cadillac in 
1701 founded Detroit, the daring La- 
Salle with three companions in Feb- 
ruary and March crossed the lower 
peninsula on foot from Saint Joseph 
near the south end of Lake Michigan 
to the Detroit river, a tramp of hard- 
ship and difficulty lasting three weeks. 
They met in that wilderness of frost 
and swamp not one human being. 
The Indians of Michigan, never nu- 
merous, had their settlements near the 
lakes only, and their numbers were 
badly lessened by the raids of the ter- 
rible Iroquois from western New 
York. Yet the Indians had attracted 
the romantic ambition of French mis- 
sionaries and if any of our readers 
would like a thrilling narrative let 
them read Parkman's Jesuits in 
America, and add to their Walhalla of 






How Our Church Came to Our Country 




BISHOP McCOSKRY 



heroes and saints the splendid names 
of Fathers Jogues and Marquette. 
Indian and half-breed descendants of 
those early converts may be found in 
large numbers worshiping Christ at 
Saint Ignace in the Mackinaw region 
and along the shore of the upper lakes ; 
and now and then in our own churches 
people of high degree bear old Can- 
adian French names or claim some 
trace of Indian blood. 

It seems a far cry from the Jesuits 
to the Anglican Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. 
But opposite the lower end of De- 
troit is the sleepy and picturesque 
Canadian village of Sandwich. In its 
quaint old Saint John's Church behold 
the mother church of the diocese of 
Michigan ! Before and after the war 
of 1812 priest Pollard, a missionary 
of "the Venerable Society" and rector 
of that church, in his canoe crossed 
the river to Detroit, then a town of 
two thousand inhabitants, to minister 
regularly to the small English-speak- 
ing population, twenty or thirty fam- 
ilies, the other inhabitants being 
French or Indian. 



But inasmuch as Detroit and east- 
ern Michigan, notwithstanding the 
explicit terms of the treaty with 
Britain after the Revolutionary War, 
had not been actually relinquished by 
the British until 1796, a considerable 
post of the British army was main- 
tained there, and army chaplains read 
the Church of England service and 
performed Church offices for the 
protestant inhabitants, and the earliest 
protestant services held at Detroit 
were those of the English Book of 
Common Prayer. In 1786 the Rev- 
erend Philip Toosey held stated serv- 
ices, and later the Reverend George 
Mitchell found seventy men who were 
protestants, fifty subscribing some- 
thing towards his support. Mr. 
Mitchell remained eighteen months 
under a quasi-parochial organization, 
but aid had to be asked from the 
S. P. G. Priest Pollard's services at 
Detroit lasted from 1802 to 1823, and 
were held in the Indian council house. 

But soon the British element in the 
population was mostly withdrawn and 
there began the great westward move- 
ment of the distinctive American ele- 
ment. Michigan was settled mainly 
by pioneers from New England, New 
York state and Ohio. These three 
districts gave of their best to Michi- 
gan. In 1821 the Reverend A. W. 
Walton, a Church clergyman, came to 
Detroit from Buffalo, his travels 
through the rain and mud of Western 
New York lasting thirty-three days, 
he and his family participating in the 
wreck of the first lake steamer, the 
Walk-in-the-Water, on Lake Erie. 
He was welcomed by Detroit protes- 
tants, and became minister of the 
First Protestant Society, teaching 
also a day school, but died in less than 
a year. In 1824 the Reverend Richard 
Cadle with some leading citizens of 
Detroit organized Saint Paul's Church, 
mother church of the diocese, holding 
services in the Indian council house 
for three years, until the then splen- 
did brick Gothic church was erected. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



*Vi 



71) 



The cornerstone was laid by Bishop 
Hobart of New York, a missionary 
bishop in deed though not in name. 
He made by invitation of Michigan 
Church people two visitations, brav- 
ing the weariness and hardships of 
the journeyings in the wilderness for 
hundreds of miles, to reach small 
groups of Church people in school 
houses and dingy public halls. At 
his second visitation in 1828 Bishop 
Hobart consecrated the church. The 
Reverend Mr. Cadle received from 
Saint Paul's parish one hundred and 
fifty dollars a year, but was a mis- 
sionary of the recently organized Do- 
mestic and Foreign Missionary So- 
ciety of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church. 

By 1832 there were three or four 
other parishes, one at Grand Rapids, 
and under the leadership of the De- 
troit Churchmen a convention was 
held at Saint Paul's, Detroit, only 
three clergymen present, but many 
laymen, which convention petitioned 
the General Convention of 1832 to be 
admitted as a diocese. The General 
•Convention hearkened to this cry of 
the few sheep in the wilderness, and 
put the new diocese under the care of 
Bishop Mcllvaine of Ohio. 

Bishop Mcllvaine made one visita- 
tion in Michigan, but suffered such 
fatigue and exposure, with the over- 
turning of his vehicle, that he be- 
came ill, and failed to visit many 
places. But he consecrated the new 
Trinity Church, Monroe, where he 
met the first annual convention of the 
diocese in May, 1834. 

At Tecumseh in June, 1835, the 
diocesan convention elected the Rev- 
erend Henry J. Whitehouse of 
Rochester, New York, as bishop, who 
declined, but later became bishop of 
Illinois. A special convention in No- 
vember found itself through lack of 
clergymen canonically resident incom- 
petent to elect a bishop, but on its 
nomination the House of Bishops 
elected the Reverend Samuel Allen 




OLD SAINT PAUL'S 

McCoskry, M.A., rector of Saint 
Paul's, Philadelphia, who was conse- 
crated first bishop of Michigan, his 
support being provided by Saint 
Paul's, Detroit, of which parish he 
became rector. 

//. Ten Mighty Men of the 
Church in Michigan 

1. 'There were giants in the earth 
in those days, men of renown." Bishop 
McCoskry was thirty-six years old 
when he came to Detroit, tall, straight, 
handsome, the soul of politeness, 
hearty in his hand clasp, unfailing 
in his memory of individuals, able to 
call by the first name ten years later 
any one whom as a youth or maiden 
he had confirmed, beloved and posi- 
tively idolized by the whole commun- 
ity. During the forty-two years of 



i so 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




BISHOP HARRIS 



his episcopate, the Church in Michigan 
grew at the rate of seven to nine per 
cent, per annum, and much of that 
growth was due to his personal in- 
fluence. He greatly enjoyed his mis- 
sionary journey ings, on horseback, in 
boats and canoes, by stage, and later 
by rail and steamboat. 

2. His unfailing, wise, able, gener- 
ous, and gentle assistant was a layman, 
Charles Christopher Trowbridge. He 
had in earlier days been secretary to 
General Cass, whom he had often ac- 
companied on his visits to the Indian 
settlements while the general, as gov- 
ernor of the territory, was dealing so 
wisely with them. Afterwards he be- 
came a bank and railway president. 
Though any office might have been 
open to a man so honored and beloved, 
he had no political ambition and never 
held any post higher than that of 
state treasurer. 

When he was eighty years old two 
hundred chief citizens of all religions 
and none, honored him with a com- 
plimentary banquet as Detroit's fore- 
most example of civic virtue. No one 
can measure his influence among 
younger men, or estimate fully his 
share in the building up of the Church 
in Michigan. 



3. James V. Campbell was son of 
Henry M. Campbell, a leader of 
earlier days in Saint Paul's Church, 
himself for forty years a teacher and 
superintendent in the Sunday-school, 
always in his pew when not at Lan- 
sing performing his duties as a jus- 
tice of the Supreme Court, or at Ann 
Arbor lecturing on law, for Judge 
Campbell was known throughout the 
land as a, great jurist. Throughout 
the state it meant much that Judge 
Campbell and many other such men 
with their families were so unfailing 
in their attendance at church and 
Sunday-school. 

4. The Reverend William N. Lys- 
ter came to America and the West as 
an ardent missionary from the land 
of Saint Patrick and Saint Columba, 
a scholarly graduate of Trinity Col- 
lege, Dublin. After brief service at 
Cleveland and Toledo, he became a 
frontier missionary in Michigan with 
his life-long friend, the Reverend John 
O'Brien, D.D. He was a founder of 
country churches and a preacher to 
farmers. In his last years he lived 
without fixed charge, but in ministry 
unremitting, on his little estate at 
Lake Angelus, where he passed away 
almost without notice, although his 
sons were becoming men of promi- 
nence in Detroit, Chicago and Wash- 
ington. In the baptistry of Christ 
Church the wonderfully beautiful 
Lyster Memorial window represents 
Christ blessing the little ones. The 
ten subordinate figures are family por- 
traits in three generations, the saintly 
old apostle and poet on the left. His 
memory is cherished in many coun- 
try places in Michigan, and Christ 
Church, Detroit, took a certain char- 
acter for devout earnestness from its 
first rector. 

5. Henry Porter Baldwin came as 
a boy to Michigan, and when one sees 
in the capitol at Hartford the por- 
trait of Governor Baldwin of Con- 
necticut, he at once recognizes a like- 
ness to Governor Baldwin of Michi- 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



181 



gan. The boy was of Church train- 
ing, and every Sunday at service he 
seated himself in the same gallery pew 
of old Saint Paul's, Detroit, and also 
attended Sunday-school. At small 
wages he was learning to be a busi- 
ness man, and eventually became a 
merchant prince, manufacturer, and 
bank president. But he ever set 
Christian duty first, and from his very 
beginnings as a wage earner scrupu- 
lously set aside the Lord's portion of 
his earnings. He long served as 
superintendent of the Sunday-school, 
which later held rank as the largest 
Church school west of Philadelphia. A 
young Englishman of low degree, a 
stranger in Detroit, appeared in the 
vestibule of Saint John's, and Gov- 
ernor Baldwin ushered him into his 
own pew, saying, "You are a new- 
comer. Use my pew whenever you 
find it convenient." That young man 
through the later vicissitudes of his 
life with pride recalled that courtesy, 
and himself as vestryman and warden 
in two churches, and a helper in sev- 
eral mission enterprises, readily fol- 
lowed that example. But Governor 
Baldwin was not, like Trowbridge, 
built by nature on genial lines, and 
when he personally warmed to an- 
other it was not spontaneously, but 
rather through Christian self-train- 
ing. He was a born and trained leader 
of men in action, and was a capital 
speaker in diocesan and General Con- 
vention. He became governor of the 
state and United States senator. 'He 
founded the Baldwin Lectureship at 
Ann Arbor and was a strong finan- 
cial indorser and planner in those 
many Church foundations which the 
diocese now enjoys. 

6. When the Reverend William E. 
Armitage came to Detroit from Au- 
gusta, Maine, he found a new neigh- 
borhood rapidly filling with ambitious 
young married people of a good class 
crowding into the beautiful new Saint 
John's Chapel. He literally edified, 
built up the new church. Probably 




BISHOP DA VIES 

two-thirds of the congregation had 
had little knowledge of the Episcopal 
Church. Among these strangers to 
our system he established a new ideal 
of a preacher, minister and priest. He 
easily won without any seeking a 
natural promotion in due time to the 
bishopric of a neighboring state. 

7. His successor after a time was 
the Reverend George Worthington, 
whom Mr. Baldwin had casually met 
on a railway journey and marked in 
his mind for future notice. No 
Church clergyman of Michigan has 
such a record as pastor of a flock. He 
was also a wise master builder, and 
under his fostering favor three city 
missions, afterwards independent 
parishes, came into being. He too, 
like Armitage, went on to a higher 
post and became bishop in a neighbor- 
ing state. 

8. The Reverend Benjamin H. 
Paddock, who came from Norwich, 
Connecticut, to be rector of Christ 
Church, Detroit, in 1860, was a man 
of the world as well as a man of 
God. With Trowbridge as his senior 
warden and many willing helpers, he 
soon had the old frame church dis- 
placed by a fine stone chapel and the 
present stately church, and his parish 



) 



VI 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



became one of the foremost in the 
land. In diocesan matters he was also 
a willing, enthusiastic, wise leader. If 
a parish was in danger he saved it by 
uniting stronger parishes to afford the 
needed aid. The clergy and laymen 
of the - parishes in the country and the 
interior towns found him as ready 
to show hospitality and good will as 
the bishop himself. To this man of 
many gifts this article owes many of 
the facts of early Michigan Church 
history, for Paddock was the author 
of the admirable historical sketch of 
the diocese of Michigan in Gillespie's 
Manual and Annals. He was a leader 
in General Convention, and naturally 
went on to become the rector of Grace 
Church, Brooklyn Heights, and later 
bishop of Massachusetts. His son, 
Lewis H. Paddock, a Detroit lawyer, 
like his father valedictorian of his 
class at Trinity College, now serves 
the diocese as custodian of its great 
invested funds and secretary of the 
Diocesan Board of Trustees. 

9. The Reverend George De N. Gil- 
lespie, instantly by his presence and 
demeanor making you think of the 
man of God, was for seventeen years 
the rector of Saint Andrew's Church, 
Ann Arbor. Through him the Church 
became known to many university 
students, as the parish also itself grew 
in importance. Conscientious, godly, 
almost austere, he yet won the love 
as well as the admiring esteem of all. 
It was not strange that he became the 
first bishop of the new diocese of 
Western Michigan, in the annals of 
which diocese his name is most largely 
written. 

10. And now we write the last of 
those great names, that of Samuel S. 
Harris, second bishop of Michigan. 
He had been a Confederate Lieuten- 
ant Colonel, and then a lawyer in the 
South, but turned to the holy ministry, 
and soon made his mark in New 
Orleans and Chicago. When Bishop 
Harris came to Michigan in 1879 
there was much latent power there 



and much fallow ground. The young 
bishop was large, handsome, affable, 
eloquent, and led in a notable ad- 
vance all along the line. During his 
administration of less than ten years 
the communicants of the diocese in- 
creased at the rate of seven to eight 
per cent, per annum, although the 
population of the state was increas- 
ing at the rate of only two per cent. 
When he died there was mourning in 
England as in America. 

As this is not a complete Church 
history of Michigan, it is not possible 
to sketch the personality and work of 
the many other gifted and devoted 
men and women who might be named. 

777. Michigan's Three Dioceses 
and Their Present Strength 

There are now three dioceses in 
the state, that of Michigan with one 
hundred and twenty-two parishes and 
missions; the diocese of Western 
Michigan, with seventy-six parishes 
and missions; and the diocese of 
Marquette, which includes the whole 
Upper Peninsula and has sixty-two 
parishes and missions. The setting 
off of the two smaller dioceses has 
been justified by results though the 
masses are not yet reached for Christ 
and "there are many adversaries". 
The financial problem is the least. 

The well-endowed Saint Luke's 
Hospital, Orphanage, and Church 
Home, and the two Arnold homes for 
old .people, are all in Detroit. The 
Hobart Guild of Ann Arbor operates 
with some endowment Harris Hall 
for Church students at the great state 
university, the curate of Saint An- 
drew's being curator and student pas- 
tor. There are no Church schools in 
the diocese of Michigan. 

The diocese of Western Michigan 
has an admirably fitted and managed 
Church school for girls in Akely 
Hall, Grand Haven, founded by 
Bishop Gillespie, and owing much to 
the devotion and ability of its prin- 
cipals, the Misses Yerkes. 



183 




Bishop C. D. Williams 
Michigan 



Bishop J. N. McCormick 
Western Michigan 

THE PRESENT BISHOPS IN MICHIGAN 



Bishop G. M. Williams 
Marquette 



Several Church schools were planned 
and organized in Michigan, one for 
boys existing in Detroit for twenty- 
seven years, and other foundations 
were feebly laid for the Church in this 
wealthy state. Heaven knows why 
Michigan Churchmen looked so cau- 
tiously upon them, left them for 
merely private and individual sup- 
port, and allowed them to disappear. 

IV. Some Elements of Pozver 

and Some Marks of 

Weakness 

At a distance of half a century 
from the above narrated events one 
can easily form intelligent judgment 
leading possibly to corresponding ac- 
tion. Five elements of power may be 
noted in the early Church history of 
Michigan : 

1. There were daring, confident, de- 
voted leaders, pioneers in the effort 
to establish God's Kingdom and our 
historic, apostolic Church among 
strangers to her ways. 

2. The vision was not wanting. 
Plans were conceived for great things 
in the Name of Christ and of His 
Church. 



3. Commanding sites were obtained 
in Detroit, and opportunities in new 
settlements and in the rural districts 
were sought and found. 

4. The great and the small were 
invited and gathered in. There was 
little mark of superciliousness, and 
there was work among the common 
people. 

5. In Detroit there was generous, 
large-hearted colonizing, the great 
mother church not grudging of her 
best to form powerful, independent 
daughter churches. 

Feebleness eventually was shown in 
these things : 

1. Pioneer aggressiveness was lack- 
ing when parishes, especially in the 
larger interior towns, became inde- 
pendent and strong. They failed to 
open up new missions and daughter 
churches for fear of weakening the 
mother church. Too many large 
towns of ten to thirty thousand in- 
habitants have practically but one 
Episcopal church. Its showy appear- 
ance of strength hides its lack of true 
vigor and healthy growth. 

2. The distinctively rural popula- 
tion has been neglected. Schoolhouse 
missions there were, but they were all 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



too few for so extended a farming 
community. 

3. Convocations became formal, 
deans being chosen from great par- 
ishes where, naturally, as rectors they 
were already very busy men. Some- 
thing better may be expected from 
our newly-introduced system of arch- 
deacons or general missionaries, re- 
sponsible each for purely missionary 
work only and having no large parish 
in charge. 

4. Sunday-schools were slighted, 
made mere appendages or postscripts 
to the Church service, not inspected as 
to efficiency, allowed to become tire- 
some and perfunctory. Once in Mich- 
igan the Sunday scholars numbered 
four-fifths as many as the registered 
communicants; now in the diocese of 
Michigan they number only two-fifths, 
in the diocese of Western Michigan 
two-sevenths, and in the diocese of 



Marquette nineteen-thirtieths of the 
number enrolled as communicants. 
This is a sore disease for which the 
thoughtful should find some remedy. 

5. And where in Michigan are the 
enthusiastic young graduates of 
Church schools and colleges? A 
young girl just come home from a 
Church boarding school out west, es- 
tablished the charming and living 
rural parish at Grass Lake. But our 
boys and girls go to secular or de- 
nominational schools, where too often 
they misuse their freedom from home 
restraints, and come home emanci- 
pated from the yoke of Christ. Michi- 
gan allowed its Church schools to pine 
away and die. 

It is for us to. learn greater wisdom 
from the mistakes of the past and to 
foster and increase the rich inherit- 
ance we have received. 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH 
CAME TO MICHIGAN" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

IT would be well to exhibit to the class a 
map of the United States and a map of 
Michigan; the state arms of Michigan; 
and to have ready for reference a Church 
almanac. Ambitious students might read 
Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac and The 
Jesuits in America. Short and interesting 
lives of Father Marquette may be had. 
Answers to some of the questions may be 
found in any good encyclopedia. 

QUESTIONS 

I. Small Things, But a Great Future 

Foreseen 

1. What is the device on the arms of the 
state of Michigan? 

2. What is Michigan's rank as a state and 
Detroit's rank as a city? 

3. Give the stories of La Salle, Jogues 
and Marquette. 

4. What service was the first used by 
Protestant Christians in Michigan? 

II. Ten Mighty Men of the Church in 
Michigan 

1. When was Michigan admitted as a state 
and as a diocese? 



2. Describe Bishop McCoskry. 

3. Sketch the personality of any other 
Michigan Churchmen. 

4. Could a diocese so weak as Michigan 
be admitted now? 

III. Michigan's Three Dioceses and Their 
Present Strength 

1. Name them and their location. 

2. Name the present bishops of these 
three dioceses. 

3. What Church institutions has the dio- 
cese of Michigan? 

4. What Church school for girls in Wes- 
tern Michigan? 

IV. Some Elements of Power and Some 
Marks of Weakness 

1. Name the five elements of power. 

2. Which of these five do you consider 
most valuable? 

3. Is it worth while to found and sustain 
distinctively Church schools and colleges? 

4. Would you like to live in Michigan? 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



185 




XXIV. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO MONTANA, 
IDAHO AND UTAH 

By Bishop Tuttle 



i 



T came there in 1867. Its coming 
was the fruitage of thirty-two 
years of seed sowing. 

/. Bishops Scott, Talbot and 
Randall 

The first sower was Bishop George 
W. Doane. In the General Conven- 
tion of 1835 in Philadelphia, he 
preached the Missionary sermon. Two 
principles he presented plainly and 
urged forcibly. One was, that the 
Church herself is the great Missionary 
Society, and that every baptized man, 
woman and child is a member thereof. 
The other was, that the bishop should 
be eminently the leader in missionary 
work; that he should be the one first 
sent, (the apostle), into a proposed 
missionary field. These principles 
were taken hold of and acted upon at 
once. In less than three weeks Jack- 
son Kemper was consecrated to be the 
first missionary bishop, and was sent 
forth to the mission field of Missouri 
and Indiana. 

The second sower was Bishop Scott. 
He was the eighth missionary bishop, 
consecrated in 1854. He came from 
Oregon over into Idaho in 1865 to 
visit Reverend Mr. Fackler who was 
a missionary in Boise City. He held 
services with him at Idaho City and 
Placerville, but fell ill and did not 
get down to Boise. 

The third sower was Bishop Joseph 
C. Talbot. He was the tenth mis- 
sionary bishop, consecrated in 1860. 
In twenty-five years we had conse- 
crated ten missionary bishops. Bishop 



Doane's second principle had been put 
into active and vigorous operation. 
Bishop Talbot's field was Nebraska, 
Dakota, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, 
Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico 
and Wyoming. For short, he was 
styled the bishop of all outdoors. I 
do not think he was ever in Montana 
or Idaho. He passed through Utah 
in the stage coach when going to and 
fro on a visitation of Nevada. But 
he held no services in the Mormon 
land. 

The fourth sower was Bishop 
Randall. He was consecrated in 1865 
and was the twelfth missionary bishop. 
I do not think he ever visited Mon- 
tana or Idaho or Utah. But he put 
himself in communication with indi- 
vidual Churchmen in these territories, 
and with his Denver clergyman, the 




BISHOP SCOTT 





•w^'-^H ^llif 


' SB 1 BUI "B^HBf"-^'^i ^^sSP^i; 






Bk *■ 


















illlB ■ HflHHl s^o* 

BbhBH^^^SEk<p^ : IIP i 


■■■ 






H ^Hfl ' '■■• ■ ■-'■ ■■ ' 


-■'- 






MB|HW|l^p^p 






^^^^^s^hBI 







THE RIGHT REVEREND DANIEL SYLVESTER TUTTLE, D.D., D.C.L., LL.D. 
Presiding Bishop of the Church 



187 




r 




BISHOP RANDALL 



BISHOP JOSEPH C. TALBOT 



BISHOP TUTTLE 



Reverend H. B. Hitchings, was par- 
ticularly interested in planning for 
missionary work in Utah. 

I may be pardoned for putting down 
here a humorous incident. Dr. Ran- 
dall, when chosen bishop of Colorado, 
was a rector in the city of Boston. 
He was middle aged, and had need 
for a wig, and wore one. A young 
friend with artistic skill pictured a 
cartoon representing the first meeting 
of the bishop with the Indians of his 
field. One of their number, scalp 
loving and overbold, twists his fingers 
in the bishop's hair. The wig comes 
off in his hand. The immense aston- 
ishment depicted in the faces and 
mien of the group of savages over a 
scalp secured without a knife was 
most amusing, and made Boston merry 
for many a day. 

//. Mr. Fackler 

The fifth sower was the Reverend 
Saint Michael Fackler. He was an 
Oregon missionary coming there from 
Missouri. In 1864 he went from 
Oregon up into Idaho and settled at 
Boise City. He stayed there two years 
and built the little frame church which 
the people insisted upon naming Saint 
Michael's. Early in 1867 he took 
passage by California and the Isthmus 
of Panama for a visit to "the States". 
In and about Panama and aboard ship 



there was much cholera and fever. 
Pastor and friend and nurse he did 
assiduous duty. Then the disease 
struck him and he died and was buried 
at Key West. He was "a good man 
and full of the Holy Ghost and of 
faith." 

Of all the sowers, Mr. Fackler was 
the only one who did local work in 
the field, and he for only two years. 
He showed wisdom in founding 
Church work in Boise. Idaho City, 
fifty miles distant, was near the rich 
placer mines and was a populous and 
prosperous town, and Boise was only 
a hamlet of cabins. His first thought 
was, "I ought to go to Idaho City and 
begin work there, because there are 
the people." His second and better 
thought was, "Boise is in the valley. 
The fruits and growths of the future 
will make it a permanent place. I'll 
stop and begin the work here." Time 
has vindicated the wisdom of his de- 
cision. To-day Boise is a flourishing 
city of thirty or fifty thousand peo- 
ple, and the capital of the state. Idaho 
City, in the mountains, is a decayed 
and deserted mining camp. 

In another matter unwisdom was 
shown. He built the little church and 
he fed the little flock with pastoral 
care and love, but he laid no claim 
upon the milk of the flock. He con- 
tented himself with receiving the 



I4B8 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




THE REVEREND ST. MICHAEL FACKLER 

stipend from the missionary society, 
and he did not ask the people for any 
salary. The mistake, however, could 
hardly be blamed upon him. There 
was need of a bishop there to claim 
and get for him some pay from the 
people that he could not well claim 
and get for himself. And there was 
no bishop. Bishop Doane's second 
principle had not yet gotten into an 
all-round application. But a mistake 
it was. Whoever will think the mat- 
ter out will come to the conclusion 
that, among American people anyway, 
wherever missionary work is done, the 
people ministered to should be priv- 
ileged to help support the minister. 
What costs nothing is little valued. 
And not to be giving for the every day 
support of religion is spiritually un- 
wholesome. 

III. Bishop Tuttle in Montana, 
Idaho and Utah 

I was consecrated bishop, the mis- 
sionary bishop of Montana with juris- 
diction also in Idaho and Utah, in 
Trinity Chapel, New York City, on 
May 1, 1867. I was the fourteenth 
missionary bishop. About the same 
time, Mr. Fackler, busied to the last 
with unselfish care for others, died at 
Key West, Florida. 

In my case, therefore, Bishop 
Doane's second principle was fol- 



lowed to the very letter. Never had 
a clergyman of our Church before 
me set foot upon the soil of Mon- 
tana. Bishop Talbot on his stage 
coach journey to Nevada had eaten a 
few meals in Utah and that was all. 
Once a clergyman of the Church of 
England had preached in the Mor- 
mon tabernacle at Salt Lake. He was 
the Reverend Mr. Sheepshank cross- 
ing the continent en route to his mis- 
sionary field. He stayed over Sunday 
in Salt Lake City and Brigham 
Young invited him to preach in the 
tabernacle, and he did so. Subse- 
quently he became the bishop of Nor- 
wich in England. Nothing came of 
the tabernacle sermon except that 
Brigham made some fun over it be- 
fore "the saints" on the next Sunday 
afternoon. 

So nothing whatever of missionary 
work had been done either in Mon- 
tana or Utah, and the one worker who 
had done something in Idaho was dead 
in Florida. It was to be clearly a 
case of bishop first in the field. 

Yet I was not first of all. Reverend 
George W. Foote, a brother of Mrs. 
Tuttle, and Reverend T. W. Haskins, 
a young deacon, a close friend of Mr. 
Foote, had left New York together 
on April fifth, and had reached Salt 
Lake City, the one on the third and 
the other on the fourth of May, while 
I did not reach there until July second. 

They set themselves to work 
promptly and earnestly. A Sunday- 
school of fifty was ready at their 
hands and was turned over to them. 
This Sunday-school had been started 
under the Reverend Mr. McLeod, a 
Congregational chaplain stationed at 
Camp Douglas, an army post two or 
three miles from the town. The su- 
perintendent was Major Hempstead, 
a Gentile lawyer. Mr. McLeod had 
gone east in 1866, and he did not come 
back. The Sunday-school met in In- 
dependence Hall which had been 
erected by the Gentile citizens of Salt 
Lake, many of them Jews. By a 



189 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



strange nomenclature, the Jews of 
Utah are all "Gentiles". Mr. Foote 
began the regular services of the 
Prayer Book in Independence Hall in 
May, 1867, and never has Salt Lake 
seen a Sunday since when they have 
been omitted. 

On July first, the day before my ar- 
rival, a day school was opened with 
sixteen scholars. For twenty-five 
years Saint Mark's School kept stead- 
ily open and it educated thousands of 
the future citizens of Utah. 

In the main I am not in favor of 
setting up Church schools in our midst. 
An American atmosphere and a demo- 
cratic wholesomeness pervade our pub- 
lic schools, in an admirable way. We 
should be content that the details of 
religion be taught in our Sunday- 
schools and our homes. But we found 
in Utah no good public schools, in fact, 
almost no schools whatever. It seemed 
incumbent on us to help to supply the 
great lack, by opening parish schools. 
The universal testimony is that our 
schools did great good. Now, the 
public schools of Utah are really 
among the best in the United States. 
Our parish schools are not needed. 
We are proud of the public schools 
and humbly grateful that we helped 
in early days to set the pace and stand- 
ard of them in several of the Mormon 
towns, and our Saint Mark's Hospital 
is a like example set in early days. 

Mr. Foote had served under Dr. 
Alexander Vinton in Saint Mark's in 
the Bowery, New York City. Mr. 
Haskins was the nephew of the famous 
pastor, Dr. Haskins, of Williamsburg 
(or East Brooklyn), New York. So 
the two named the baby mission Saint 
Mark's before I got there. 

Our Utah work, as every one knows, 
is a peculiar work. In doing it there 
has been no nurturing of hate, and no 
breaking of the bonds of reasonable 
neighborliness and good will. Today 
we have four churches in Salt Lake 
City, a bishop and fifteen clergy in the 
state; in spite of the overwhelming 



number of Mormons, one out of every 
281 of the inhabitants of the state is 
a communicant of our Church, while 
in the state of Missouri we are not 
much ahead — one in 251. 

Into Montana I entered on July 18, 
1867, in the midst of a snowstorm — 
a rather cold welcome extended to its 
bishop, I thought. The Reverend E. 
N. Goddard was with me. On Sun- 
day, July twenty-first, at Virginia City, 
the capital, we held the first Prayer 
Book services of the state (or the ter- 
ritory, as it was then). In a fortnight 
we went over to Helena. After stay- 
ing two Sundays I left Mr. Goddard 
to begin missionary work there, and 
I went back to Virginia City. The 
month of October I spent in Idaho, 
then came back to Virginia City and 
stayed there for the winter and spring 
of 1867-1868. 

That winter, lived in my log cabin, 
was an education to me. To learn to 
know the miners and to discern the 
wholesomeness and helpfulness and 
kindness and goodness hidden under 
their wildness and wickedness ; to visit 
the sick and sad and to see their tears 
and to receive their thanks and to 
guide their prayers ; to find almost hu- 
man companionship and sympathy in 
my cat Dick in the loneliness that 
would beset me; and to gather funds 
and build a little church, the first one 
in Montana, and to enter it with every 
bill settled and not one cent in debt — 
these were my experiences and they 
were indeed nothing less than a most 
valuable education. 

So came our Church to Montana, 
and it has stayed there and grown 
there and uplifted its head in strength 
and vigor there. One out of every 
ninety-three of the population of Mon- 
tana is a communicant of our Church. 
This is a percentage almost three times 
stronger than that of the state of Mis- 
souri. Dear old Montana! I was 
named for her fifty years ago. There 
are loving deeps in which she is held 
in tender and sacred memory. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




BISHOP ETHELBERT TALBOT 

Into Idaho I entered first October 
12, 1867 (except that in going to Mon- 
tana the stage route took us through 
a part of Idaho). Here not only had 
Mr. Fackler and Bishop Scott pre- 
ceded me, but Mr. Miller was ahead 
of me. The Reverend G. D. B. Miller 
was pastor of the parish, adjoining 
mine in Otsego County, New York, 
when I was chosen bishop. He said 
he would go west with me. Just be- 
fore we started he married the sister 
of Mrs. Tuttle. He and Mr. Goddard 
and the wife of the Reverend G. W. 
Foote and Mrs. Turtle's youngest sis- 
ter, Sarah (now Mrs. White), were 
with me to enter Salt Lake City, July 
2, 1867. From there Mr. Miller went 
on to Boise City and took charge of 
Saint Michael's Church. So he had 
been pastor there for more than three 
months when I arrived in October. He 
stayed in Boise six years, a pastor 
greatly beloved. He started and su- 
stained a parish school. For part of 
the time, Reverend Henry L. Foote, 
his brother-in-law, was his helper. The 
evangelization of all Central Idaho, 
including Boise Basin (Idaho City, 
etc.) the Owyhee Country (Silver 
City, etc.) and Boise Valley, was 
largely the work of Mr. Miller. In 
1873 he went as a missionary to Japan 
for three years. Then he returned to 
me and became the honored and be- 



loved head of Saint Mark's School, 
Salt Lake City, and when I came to 
Missouri, he followed after me, and 
died the rector of a church in the 
suburbs of Saint Louis. Save for the 
Japan sojourn he was by my side for 
forty-five years and more, a devoted 
brother and most efficient helper. My 
heart keeps steady step with my grate- 
ful and loving memory of him. 

Southern Idaho was filled almost 
entirely with a Mormon population. 
Northern Idaho has its closest affilia- 
tions with Oregon; and up to 1880, 
when I was relieved of Montana, 
Bishop Morris made visitations for 
me, and the Reverend Dr. Nevius did 
the missionary work in Northern 
Idaho. 

Nevertheless, Idaho has lived 
Church-wise and grown, and now has 
one communicant for every 151 of her 
population, being behind Montana in 
numerical Church strength, but quite 
ahead of Utah or Missouri. 

For thirteen years I had charge of 
Montana, Utah and Idaho; then for 
six years and more of Utah and Idaho, 
that pioneer hero, Bishop Brewer, 
coming in to take Montana. Then I 
turned away eastward, coming to Mis- 
souri thirty-one years ago. 

Eight bishops have served in the 
goodly heritage of Montana, Utah and 
Idaho. Three are dead, Brewer, 
Leonard, Spalding. Three are in the 
field, Funsten, Faber, Jones. Two are 
out — Tuttle and Talbot — lovers, but 
not possessors. If the eight could be 
together their clear singing in unison 
would be, "The lot is fallen unto us in 
a fair ground ; yea, we have a goodly 
heritage." 

IV. "Two Words" 
One of the eight, in closing this 
final article of the series on "How 
Our Church Came to Our Country", 
asks to add two words, because they 
are words of cheer and comfort. 

The first word tells of how men 
spring forward to the help of the 



191 




BISHOP FUNSTEN 
Idaho 



BISHOP FABER 

Montana 



BISHOP JONES 
Utah 



Church to fill vacancies as they arise. 
Eight young men, all of them, except 
one from our schools in Utah, be- 
came ministers — C. G. Davis, S. Uns- 
worth, F. W. Crook, L. Eilberson, F. 
Norris, J. W. Higson, W. Hough- 
ton, J. Hyslop. There may be others 
whom I do not recall. Two are dead, 
Davis and Houghton. The others are 
in active duty. 

The second word tells how money 
has come forth steadily, helpfully and 
generously for missionary work. I 
write in my summer cottage away 
from my books and accounts. But 
without whipping my memory to any 
extreme degree I recall how as much 
as three hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars were put into my hands as 
"specials" when I was missionary 
bishop, and what some of them were : 

Forty dollars per year for scholar- 
ships in our Saint Mark's School, Salt 
Lake, and our Ogden and Logan and 
Plain City Schools from hundreds of 
Sunday-schools, and men and women 
(specially women) throughout the 
East. 

Twenty-five thousand dollars from 
the Misses Mount, New York City, 
to build Saint Paul's Church and rec- 
tory, Salt Lake, and the rectory at 
Ogden. 



Twelve thousand dollars from the 
Hamersley family, New York City, to 
build the Church of the Good Shep- 
herd, Ogden. 

A house and lot, valued at one thou- 
sand five hundred dollars for a rec- 
tory at Virginia City, Montana, from 
Mr. Gamble, a Presbyterian. 

One thousand five hundred dollars 
for the Church of the Good Samari- 
tan, Corinne, Utah, from Mrs. Robert 
Minturn of New York City. 

Five hundred dollars toward build- 
ing the Church of the Holy Spirit, 
Missoula, Montana, from Mr. El- 
bridge T. Gerry of New York City. 

One thousand dollars once and 
again, and one thousand five hundred 
dollars specially to buy the "old tan- 
nery" in Ogden, from Mr. John D. 
Wolfe of New York City. 

Five hundred dollars for endow- 
ment of a scholarship in Saint Mark's 
School, Salt Lake, from Mrs. Mary 
J. Bradford of Cleveland, Ohio. 

Five thousand dollars for help in 
building Saint Mark's Cathedral, Salt 
Lake, from Mrs. W. Welsh of Phila- 
delphia. 

Two hundred and fifty dollars for 
a bishop's chair for Saint Mark's Ca- 
thedral, from Mr. H. O. Moss of New 
Berlin, New York. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



One thousand dollars for the altar 
window in Saint Mark's Cathedral, 
Salt Lake, and another one thousand 
dollars to help build Saint James's 
Church, Deer Lodge, Montana, from 
Batavia, New York, in memory of 
the Reverend Morelle Fowler. 

One thousand dollars from Admiral 
Selfridge of the U. S. Navy, for a 
fund for Saint Mark's Cathedral, the 
proceeds to be given to the poor. 



Fifty thousand dollars in later years 
to Christ Church Cathedral, Saint 
Louis, Missouri, from Mr. Charles D. 
McLure, a Montana miner. 

How kind and generous Church folk 
have been ! 

"O, that men would therefore praise 
the Lord for His goodness; and de- 
clare the wonders that He doeth for 
the children of men !" 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO 
MONTANA, IDAHO AND UTAH" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

BISHOP Tuttle's Reminiscences of a 
Missionary Bishop will give the best 
preparation for the teaching of the les- 
son as there is so much of personal interest 
therein. Refresh your memory as to the 
details of the "apportionment" and learn the 
latest figures as to the standing of your 
own parish and diocese. (Your rector can 
give you this information.) The Board of 
Missions publishes some leaflets dealing 
with the subject of the apportionment. If 
you need any of these, they will be sent, 
postpaid, upon request. Address the Litera- 
ture Department, 281 Fourth Avenue, New 
York City. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Bring out some of these facts : Mon- 
tana contains 146,201 square miles, was 
made a state in 1889 and a diocese in 1904. 
Idaho contains 83,354 square miles, was 
made a state in 1890 and a separate mis- 
sionary district in 1907. Utah contains 
82,184 square miles, was made a state in 
1896 and a separate missionary district in 
1907. Bring out the contrast in equipment 
of men and means today (see any Church 
almanac) as compared with the field when 
Bishop Tuttle was sent to care for it all ! 
Mention Bishop Brewer of Montana and 
the fact that he was the wise founder of 
the apportionment. 



TEACHING THE LESSON 

I. Bishops Scott, Talbot and Randall. 

1. What points did Bishop Doane em- 

phasize in his sermon at the General 
Convention in Philadelphia in 1835? 

2. Who was the first missionary bishop 

sent out by our Church? 

3. Tell what you can of the bishops who 

visited Montana, Idaho and Utah 
before 1867. 

II. Mr. Fackler. 

1. Tell what you can of Mr. Fackler's 

work in Idaho. 

2. Where else have we studied about his 

work? (See The Spirit of Missions, 
March, 1917, page 197.) 

III. Bishop Tuttle in Montana, Idaho 
and Utah. 

1. In what year was Bishop Tuttle con- 

secrated bishop? 

2. Tell of his first winter in Montana. 

3. What other incidents of those early 

days can you mention? 

4. Who is the present bishop of Montana? 

Idaho? Utah? 

IV. "Two Words". 

1. What "two words" does Bishop Tuttle 

add? 

2. In what way is it possible for even 

girls and boys to give their lives to 
Church work? 

3. What gifts of money may the children 

of the Church make to help extend 
the Kingdom of God? 

4. How many boys in your parish are 

going to study for the ministry? 



PUBLISHED BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 3 CENTS. 



193 



Hoto ®ux Cfmrrf) Came to ®uv Country 



XXV. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO MAINE* 
By Marguerite Ogden 



I. Earliest Clergymen 

A GLANCE at the map of the 
United States will reveal the 
state of Maine in the extreme 
northeasterly corner — just the' point 
that voyagers from England in the 
early seventeenth century might touch 
upon. Thus it happened in 1605 
that an expedition under George 
Weymouth landed on the coast of 
Maine and explored "the most ex- 
cellent benencyall river Sachadehoc", 
(now known as the" Kennebec River) 
and on the occasion of a Church serv- 
ice it is mentioned that there were two 
Indians present "who behaved them- 
selves very civilly,, neither laughing nor 
talking all the time". This is probably 
the first religious service of the Eng- 
lish Church held on the coast of New 
England. It is important to note this 
because it is usually assumed that as 
Maine was for many years a part of 
the Massachusetts colony, its religious 
beginnings were necessarily Puritan- 
ical. 

The next attempt at colonizing this 
portion of our country, then known as 
Northern Virginia, was made by 
George Popham in August, 1607. Ac- 
cording to the record, the company of 
which he was president came to a 
"gallant island, and on a Sonday the 
chief of both the shipps with the great- 
est part of all the company landed on 
the island where the cross stood, the 
which they called St. George's Island, 



*Some of the material here incorporated was 
assembled by the Reverend William F. Living- 
ston of Hallowell, Maine, who had been asked 
to write the article, but on account of severe 
illness was unable to proceed with the work. 



and heard a sermon delivered unto 
them by Mr. Seymour, his preacher, 
and so returned abourd again". This 
was what might be called the first 
Thanksgiving service, and the cross al- 
luded to is the one previously erected 
by Weymouth. "And about two 
months later", the journal states, "a 
Fort was trencht and fortified with 
twelve pieces of ordinaunce, and they 
built fifty houses therein, besides a 
church and store-house". The above 
diary establishes three interesting facts 
of Church history in Maine : one, that 
the first known act of worship in the 
state was the planting of a cross by an 
early navigator; second, that the first 
service recorded here was by a priest 
of the Historic Church ; and third, that 
this inauguration of our Church took 
place some thirteen years before the 
landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. 

But the story of this colony is brief. 
Because of the hardship that befell 
the enterprise, the unusual severity of 
the weather, for which they were un- 
prepared, and the death of President 
George Popham, the settlement was 
abandoned in 1608, and the colonists 
with their clergyman returned to Eng- 
land. This clergyman, Richard Sey- 
mour, is entitled, however, to a special 
place of honor as the first preacher of 
the Gospel in the English tongue with- 
in the borders of New England. 

The next mention of a clergyman 
in the district of Maine is found in 
connection with the royal grant made 
to Fernando Gorges to establish a set- 
tlement at Winter Harbor on the Saco 
River, and "to nominate ministers to 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



all the churches that might be built 
within the province". William Morrell 
was sent over with authority to super- 
intend the churches and although his 
office was ineffectual, and he is said 
to have spent his time preserving 
peaceful relations with the Puritans, 
studying New England scenery, and in 
his "melancholy leisure" composing a 
Latin poem, yet his mere presence 
proves the claim of the Church of Eng- 
land to a care for the spiritual inter- 
ests of the Maine colonists. 

Richard Gibson comes to our notice 
as the first clergyman to exercise in a 
practical way the duties of a parish 
priest in Maine. In 1636 we find his 
name associated with a settlement at 
Saco, owned by an English merchant, 
Mr. Trelawny. Mr. Gibson lived, ap- 
parently, on Richmond Island, which 
lies on the southeasterly side of Cape 
Elizabeth near Portland. He had 
under his charge an enterprising com- 
pany of men engaged in the fishery 
business. He was most acceptable to 
his flock, if one may judge from a let- 
ter of the agent to the owner of the 
settlement as follows : "Our minister 
is a fair condition man, and one that 
doth keep himself in very good order, 
and instruct our people well, if please 
God to give us the grace to follow his 
instructions". Unfortunately, Mr. Gib- 
son was not as conciliatory in the ex- 
ercise of his duties as Mr. Morrell had 
been. He was bold and decided in the 
expression of his opinions, and in his 
loyalty to the English Church. This 
brought him into controversy with a 
Puritan minister of Dover, and he was 
brought before the court of the Mas- 
sachusetts Colony to be tried on this 
charge, viz. : "He being wholly ad- 
dicted to the hierarchy and discipline 
of England did exercise a ministerial 
function in the same way, and did 
marry and baptize at the Isle of Shoals 
which found to be within our juris- 
diction". After several days' confine- 
ment, he was allowed to go free with- 
out fine or punishment upon condition 



that he leave the country, and this he 
did, never to return to the colonies. 

Robert Jordan, who succeeded Mr. 
Gibson, was a prominent and influ- 
ential man in the annals of western 
Maine. He may be claimed, too, as 
the first clergyman to settle perma- 
nently in the district. He married and 
died in New England, throwing the 
whole force of his strong personality 
into the new life, both secular and re- 
ligious. Through his marriage with 
the daughter of Mr. Winter, the agent 
of the settlement, he became a man of 
large property, and set himself stoutly 
to resist the encroachments of the 
Massachusetts Colony into Maine. 
This, coupled with his zealous adher- 
ence to the Episcopal Church, brought 
him into constant disfavor with the 
Massachusetts government. He was 
frequently censured for exercising his 
ministerial office in marriages, bap- 
tisms, and other acts. The accom- 
panying cut of the font brought by 
Mr. Jordan from England looks more 
like an alms basin than the fonts used 
in churches nowadays. It was after 
baptizing three children in this font in 
Falmouth in the year 1660 that he was 
summoned before the general court in 
Boston and required to desist from 
such practices in the future. Appar- 
ently, he paid little attention to the 
warning, for he continued his priestly 
duties among the inhabitants of Scar- 
boro, Casco (now Portland), and 
Saco. His good common sense, quite 
in advance of his time, is shown by 
the incident of his incurring the en- 
mity of his neighbors by refusing, 
when one of his cows died, to have 
an old woman, who was supposed to 
have cast the evil eye on it, tried for 
witchcraft. Mr. Jordan's house was 
burned in the Indian war incited by 
King Philip, and he barely escaped 
with his family to Newcastle, New 
Hampshire, where he finally died in 
1679 at the age of sixty-eight, so en- 
feebled in the use of his hands that he 
was unable to sign his will. He left 



195 



&t$Wj£W:W$ :: &r'' v - 




FONT USED BY THE REVEREND ROBERT JORDAN 
After baptizing three children in 1660 he was summoned before the General Court in Boston 



six sons from whom have descended 
thousands of the name. It is said 
that at one time in Cape Elizabeth 
there were nine Nathaniel Jordans, 
distinguished by different epithets. 

//. The First Two Parishes 

After the death of Mr. Jordan, the 
regular ministrations of the Church 
in Maine were suspended for eighty 
years. Then the Society for the Prop- 
agation of the Gospel in Foreign 
Parts sent William McClenachan as 
a missionary to Frankfort (now Dres- 
den) and Georgetown. He was not 
well-fitted to this task, and after four 
years departed, to be succeeded by 
Jacob Bailey, known as the "frontier 
missionary". He had the spirit of a 
pioneer, and was a man devoted to his 
people and his work, who labored with 
untiring zeal amid great difficulties of 
nature, and sectarian prejudice. He 
extended his efforts to Sheepscote, 
Harpswell and Damariscotta. He also 
preached in Gardinerstown, and in 
1772 dedicated Saint Ann's Church 
there. The church in Gardiner, both 
for its clerical and lay supporters, de- 
serves more than a passing mention. 



for it has occupied, since its inception, 
a prominent place in the annals of 
Maine Church history. The first 
church building, Saint Ann's, was 
erected largely through the instrumen- 
tality of the Gardiner family, from 
whom the town was named ; and in the 
will of Dr. Gardiner instructions are 
given to his heir "to complete the 
church of St. Ann's out of his personal 
estate. Twenty-eight pounds sterling 
are to be paid annually and forever to 
its minister". This building was burned 
in 1793 by a madman who thought 
he was commissioned from on high to 
burn the church and murder its min- 
ister. A new Saint Ann's was built 
the next year by courageous towns- 
people and a parsonage given by Mr. 
William Gardiner, and a rector called 
at the munificent salary of seventy-two 
pounds sterling. The position of the 
Church in the community at this early 
date can be gained from this suggestive 
paragraph quoted from the history of 
the parish: "It is a noticeable fact, 
in a time so deeply scarred with traces 
of religious battles as were the years 
between 1790 and 1820, that Maine's 
Episcopalians should have kept such 
a neutral ground. Not only did our 



^6 





REVEREND PETRUS S. TEN BROECK 



BISHOP GEORGE BURGESS 



people invite the co-operation of the 
sects, but they also found much to ad- 
mire in their beliefs". This seems to 
savor of present day faith and order, 
so actively being promulgated by one 
of Maine's present representatives in 
the General Convention, Mr. Robert 
H. Gardiner. 

Gideon W. Olney began a prosper- 
ous and happy rectorate in 1817; the 
success of it coming not more from the 
talented and persuasive minister than 
from the able support given him by 
his senior warden, Mr. Robert Hallo- 
well Gardiner, of whom it has been 
said "the beauty of Mr. Gardiner's 
character found its best expression in 
his future dealings with the House of 
the Lord. For nearly sixty years he 
was the stay of Gardiner's church, and 
a staunch supporter of her teachings 
in many parts of the country. Both 
the clergymen of the parish and those 
who have visited the place bear grate- 
ful witness to his tireless hospitality 
and precious friendship". The need 
of a larger church became evident and 
the present Gothic edifice, Christ 
Church, built of stone from the vicin- 
ity, was consecrated by Bishop Gris- 
wold on Saint Luke's Day, 1820. This 



parish under its succession of able 
rectors led in many movements of the 
day which seem to us to have always 
been part of the Church. Here was 
started one of the first Sunday-schools 
in New England ; its rector and vestry 
in 1835 were among the most ardent 
supporters of the Maine Missionary 
Society ; one of its rectors, Joel Clapp, 
was the first to adopt the white sur- 
plice for the black gown. In 1847, it 
became the parish of the first bishop 
of Maine. 

The first record of the renewal of 
the services of the Church at Falmouth 
(now Portland) occurs some seventy- 
nine years after the death of Mr. Jor- 
dan, in the journal of the Congrega- 
tional minister of the place. About this 
time, the Reverend Mr. Brockwell of 
Trinity Church, Boston, visited the 
town as chaplain of Governor Shirley, 
and, according to the journal, "carried 
on in the Church form" and "gave 
great offense as to his doctrine" (that 
is, to the Congregationalists). Ten 
years later, a large number of persons 
declared in writing their desire that 
the new meeting house, about to be 
erected in Falmouth, be devoted to the 
services of the Church of England, and 



197 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



it appears from the record that in 1756, 
John Wiswall, who was pastor of the 
new Casco parish (Congregational), 
declared for the Church of England,, 
and accepted a call to the new church. 
As there was no bishop in this coun- 
try, he was obliged to make a voyage 
to England, a matter of some seven 
months, for his ordination, whence he 
returned to be the first rector of this 
parish, and also a missionary aided to 
the extent of twenty pounds by the 
S. P. G. From this beginning the 
Church went through many vicissi- 
tudes, both temporal and spiritual. The 
first edifice was burned, when the Brit- 
ish attacked Portland in 1775, and dur- 
ing the period of the Revolution the 
activities of the parish were almost 
suspended. A new building was 
erected, however, in 1789, and oc- 
cupied until replaced by a brick struc- 
ture in 1803. It is an interesting com- 
ment upon the management of Church 
affairs in these early days to find that 





BISHOP HENRY ADAMS NEELY 



SAINT LUKE'S CHURCH, MACWAHOC 

The quarterly meeting of the Woman's Auxiliary, 
1917, which met in tliis building erected by prayer 



the members of this Saint Paul's 
Church were taxed by the govern- 
ment for the support of the First Par- 
ish (Congregational) as well as by 
choice obliged to contribute to the 
maintenance 'of their own worship. 
After an unsuccessful appeal to the 
Massachusetts court to be released 
from this assessment, the First Parish 
with great fairness voted to return 
these taxes to the Episcopalians, less 
the expenses of collection. This church 
met with various fortunes in its chang- 
ing rectors until in 1818 it called 
Petrus S. Ten Broeck, who remained 
for thirteen years and did much to 
build up the Church and to lay the 
foundations of the diocese as well. In 
1839, it was found expedient chiefly 
for financial reasons to form a new 
parish called Saint Stephen's which 
continued to worship in the same 
building until it was destroyed in the 
fire of 1866. 



m 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




BISHOP CODMAN 

///. Formation of the Diocese 

The district of Maine was admitted 
as a state in 1820, and one month later 
Bishop Griswold of the Eastern Dio- 
cese, comprising all New England 
except Connecticut, wrote Mr. Ten 
Broeck, rector of Saint Paul's, Port- 
land, requesting that the few churches 
in the new state of Maine choose dele- 
gates to meet at Brunswick on the 
first Wednesday of May and form 
themselves into a regular convention 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church. 
This was accomplished chiefly through 
the zeal and energy of Robert H. Gar- 
diner of Gardiner, and Simon Green- 
leaf of Portland. The convention as- 
sembled with its clerical and lay dele- 
gates from the then two existing par- 
ishes in Maine — Christ Church, Gar- 
diner, and Saint Paul's, Portland — and 
proceeded to draw up a constitution 
and elect as delegates to the General 
Convention about to meet in Philadel- 
phia the Reverend Mr. Ten Broeck 
and Mr. Gardiner. The acts of this 
small assembly read quite like similar 
ones today, particularly a vote to 
bring up the subject of Prayer Book 
revision at the next General Conven- 



tion. The diocese of Maine continued 
to be part of the Eastern Diocese from 
1820 to 1847 : twenty-two years under 
the episcopal supervision of Bishop 
Griswold and four years with Bishop 
Henshaw of Rhode Island acting as 
provisional bishop of Maine. During 
this period the number of clergy had 
increased from two to ten, there were 
six churches, and a missionary society 
had been formed that expended be- 
tween six and seven hundred dollars 
a year. 

It was to this small but virile church 
that George Burgess, rector of Christ 
Church, Hartford, was called to be the 
first bishop in 1847. Too much can- 
not be said of the wisdom and tact, 
not to speak of the godly grace, that 
he exercised in laying the foundations 
of the present church in Maine. He 
was rector of Christ Church, Gardiner, 
and travelled from that center with 
untiring energy over the whole state, 
and this at a time when there were but 
few miles of railroad even in the most 
populous county. He never mentioned 
his hardships, and apparently forgot 
the unpleasant features of his work in 




BISHOP BREWSTER 
Transferred from Western Colorado in 1916 



199 




SAINT LUKE'S CATHEDRAL, PORTLAND 



writing books and poetry in his leisure 
moments. His task was by no means 
easy, as there was much prejudice in 
Maine against the Episcopal Church. 
Bishop Burgess's generous and frater- 
nal spirit overcame to a large degree 
this unfriendly feeling. He was pe- 
culiarly fortunate in gathering around 
him a company of clergy of strong 
personality, many of whom became 
distinguished in various fields of 
Church work. Among these were: 
Dr. Ballard, John Cotton Smith, Alex- 
ander Burgess (later first bishop of 
Quincy), William E. Armitage (later 
bishop of Wisconsin), Thomas March 
Clark (later bishop of Rhode Is- 
land), Bishop Horatio Southgate, 
John Franklin Spalding (later bishop 
of Colorado). Bishop Burgess found 
committed to his charge seven parishes. 
At the time of his decease, the number 
of clergy and parishes had almost 
trebled. As there was no fund for 
the support of the bishop, he began 
such a fund. When he died he made 
liberal additions to it by his will. 



IV. Later Days 

The second bishop of Maine was 
Henry Adams Neely, called to the dio- 
cese from Trinity Chapel, New York. 
His strength both mental and physical, 
and his directness of method and 
speech contributed admirably to the 
mutual understanding of this chief 
pastor and his people. While con- 
stantly extending the local missionary 
work of the Church with practical 
enthusiasm, Bishop Neely laid great 
emphasis on Church education. His 
ready sympathy went out to the in- 
tellectually ambitious boys and girls 
who, on account of the great distances 
and consequent expense, could not sat- 
isfy their yearning for higher edu- 
cation. He established with effort and 
constant worry for their financial sup- 
port a boys' preparatory school in 
Presque Isle, and a girls' school in 
Augusta. During his episcopate, which 
lasted thirty-two years, the Church 
steadily enlarged its influence. In 
Aroostook County, that fair land of 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



lumber and potatoes on the northern- 
most limits of this state, there had been 
but one church at Houlton. started in 
1843 by John Blake, a chaplain of the 
U. S. A. who was stationed at the bar- 
racks there and who became so much 
interested in the local work that he 
willed his property to its support. 
Under Bishop Neely, to this one were 
added five parishes and missions. 

One of the needs of the diocese 
which forced itself upon Bishop Cod- 
man when he came to Maine in 1899 
was that of proper housing for the 
clergy, and he set himself with meas- 
urable success to provide rectories for 
every church and mission in the dio- 
cese. Through his determination Maine 
relinquished all aid from the Board of 
Missions, and became an independent 
diocese. But the effort to accomplish 
this did not lessen missionary work 
in the state. He opened to wider 
endeavor the region beginning at 
Loweltown on the extreme western 
border and extending a hundred miles 
east to Kingman, called the Central 



Maine Mission. Of the building of 
the last church in this section at Mac- 
wahoc, the story runs that when the 
bishop visited the town, in company 
with his able and devoted missionary, 
the Reverend A. E. Scott, he found a 
small Sunday-school started by a Ca- 
nadian woman, who would have her 
children taught the Catechism. They 
told the bishop that they wanted a 
church as there was no building for 
religious purposes in the town, and he 
said: "If you really want a church, 
pray for it, children, pray with all your 
might, and it will come". And it did, 
through the instrumentality of the 
Maine Junior Auxiliary and some of 
its friends. 

The diocese of Maine covers a large 
area, and Bishop Codman travelled 
over it almost to his last hour. 

After the death of Bishop Codman, 
the Right Reverend Benjamin Brew- 
ster, then missionary-bishop of West- 
ern Colorado, was transferred to the 
diocese of Maine, and in June, 1916, 
became its fourth bishop. 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH CAME 
TO MAINE" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

READ any history of the settling of New 
England; Memoir of Bishop George 
Burgess; Ballard's Early History _ of 
the P. E. Church in the Diocese of Maine, 
Gilmore's History of Christ Church, Gardi- 
ner. Proceedings of the Maine Historical 
Society, Reports of diocesan conventions. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Have the children find Maine on a map, 
giving its relative position to England and 
the United States. Ask if any of them 
have spent a summer in Maine. Ask them 
to look up the 308th Hymn, and see who 
wrote it. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. Earliest Clergymen. 

1. To what church did the first settlers of 

Maine belong? 

2. When the expedition under George 

Popham landed, what did they find? 

3. Who was the first preacher of the Gos- 

pel in English in New England? 



4. Who was the first clergyman to settle 
for life in Maine? Tell some inci- 
dents of his life. 

II. The Two First Parishes. 

1. Who was called the pioneer missionary? 

2. What church on the Kennebec River 

did he found? 

3. How many years elapsed after the death 

of Mr. Jordan before there was a 
church service in Falmouth? 

4. Where was Mr. Wiswall ordained? 

Why? 

III. Formation of the Diocese. 

1. What diocese first included Maine? 

2. What two parishes were represented 

in the first diocesan convention? 

3. Who was the first bishop of Maine? 

IV. Later Days. 

1. Who was the second bishop of Maine? 

What work did he further? 

2. Tell the incident of the mission church 

at Macwahoc? Who was the bishop 
that told the children to pray? 

3. Who is the present bishop of Maine? 



PUBLISHED BY MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 5 CENTS. 



201 



a j 




XXV. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO DELAWARE 



/. The Settlement of Delaware 

THE territory bordering the 
lower Delaware and Delaware 
Bay, extending from Pennsyl- 
vania to Cape Henlopen,' was settled 
successively by Dutch, Swedes and 
English. Here as elsewhere the set- 
tlers brought their religion with them 
and established missions of the Euro- 
pean Churches in which they had been 
reared. The Dutch, first at Swaanen- 
dael (Lewes) in 1635, and later at 
Niew Amstel (New Castle) held 
Dutch Reformed services ; the Swedes 
at Christina (Wilmington) in 1638 
started a mission of the Swedish Lu- 
theran Church; the English, occupy- 
ing more of the country as the sev- 
enteenth century advanced, began 
English services, those of the Church 
of England, of the English Presby- 
terians, and of the Quakers. The pro- 
prietorship of this territory was dis- 
puted by William Penn and the heirs 
of Lord Baltimore. Did this west 
shore of the river and bay belong to 
Maryland or to Pennsylvania? The 
former seemed likely; but Penn much 
wished to control the approach from 
the sea to Philadelphia; and after in- 
volved litigation in England, decision 
was given in his favor. Henceforth, 
"the three lower Counties of New 
Castle, Kent and Sussex upon Dela- 
ware" were regarded as part of the 
Colony of Pennsylvania, yet though 
annexed, they never became closely at- 
tached. They always asserted and 
preserved a certain degree of inde- 
pendence of the larger colony, and at 
their first opportunity established the 



right to be regarded as a separate col- 
ony and eventually a separate state. 
Its colonial history is, therefore, 
closely connected with that of Penn- 
sylvania, and its whole development 
affected and determined by the rela- 
tions of the three counties, New Cas- 
tle, Kent and Sussex, its constituent 
parts. 

The history of our Church prop- 
erly begins with the establishing of 
Church of England missions in each 
of the Counties; but it is necessary 
also to notice the Swedish mission in 
Christina of which we are the direct 
heirs. The Swedes settled what is 
now Wilmington in 1638. Lutheran 
missionaries came with them, who, 
under the direction of the Archbishop 
of Upsala, ministered to the Swedish 
colonists for a century and a half. In 
1697 landed the most famous of these, 
Eric Bjork, bringing letters from King 
Charles XI of Sweden and from King 
William III of England, whose inter- 
est had been bespoken by William 
Penn. In the following year he 
started to build a stone church which 
was finished and consecrated on Trin- 
ity Sunday, June 4, 1699. This church 
is, in a sense, the mother-church of all 
Wilmington. 

During the eighteenth century the 
relations between the Swedish and the 
English missionaries in Delaware were 
most friendly. In divided Christendom 
the Church of England and the Church 
of Sweden are close to each other, 
since the lines independently adopted 
by them in the Reformation period 
were similar. This has been recognized 
in all stages of their respective his- 




OLD SWEDES' CHURCH, WILMINGTON, CONSECRATED JUNE 4, 1699 



tories when they have come in con- 
tact. Church of England and Church 
of Sweden men in Delaware found 
themselves in ecclesiastical sympathy, 
and there was constant interchange of 
pastoral help. During vacancies, Swed- 
ish clergy officiated in English 
churches, and English clergy in the 
Swedish church at Wilmington. Rec- 
tors of New Castle and priests of Old 
Swedes' baptized each other's chil- 
dren. This co-operation was only a 
striking illustration of what has hap- 
pened at other times and in other 
ways. During the past twenty years, 
the possibility of full communion be- 
tween the two Churches has been seri- 
ously considered in England and in 
Sweden. Mutual impressions' are fa- 
vorable; and joint work seems pos- 
sible. This development in our own 
time is in line with experiences in the 
mission-field of Delaware two hun- 
dred years ago. When, however, New 
Sweden became first a Dutch and 
later an English colony, the support 
of a Swedish mission became difficult, 
and apparently unnecessary after the 



Swedish language ceased commonly to 
be used. Yet it was not formally 
abandoned until 1790, at which time 
the Swedish churches were turned 
over to the Episcopal Church as the 
Church of Sweden's nearest friend 
and natural heir. Hence the Old 
Swedes' Church in Wilmington be- 
came the first of the Episcopal 
churches there, and has for over a cen- 
tury and a quarter been one of the 
homes of the Prayer Book. 

77. Missions of the S. P. G. 

The. first missionary of the Church 
of England who is known to have 
worked in Delaware was the Reverend 
John Yeo, who in 1677 came to New 
Castle, where Church of England 
work was more definitely organized in 
1689. This was not, however, system- 
atically maintained until after the 
formation of the Society for the Prop- 
agation of the Gospel in 1701. In the 
eighteenth century missions were es- 
tablished in all three Delaware coun- 
ties, the chief being in New Castle 



203 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



for New Castle County, in Dover for 
Kent, and in Lewes for Sussex. 

Immanuel Church, New Castle, is 
the cradle of Anglican Christianity in 
Delaware, and the Reverend George 
Ross the outstanding figure in its 
early history. Little is known of the 
parish prior to 1703, when plans were 
made for the present church which 
was finished and opened in 1705. The 
sermon on this occasion was preached 
by one of the Swedish missionaries 
from Christina; and among the gifts 
made were a pulpit, altar-cloths and 
"box of glass" from Queen Anne. The 
man most active in promoting the 
work was Captain Richard Hallowell, 
who, in addition to large gifts of 
money made during his life, be- 
queathed his farm as a glebe for the 
church; and on this, rectors of New 
Castle lived for over a century and a 
half. The other churches in New 
Castle County which date from the 
time of Mr. Ross are Saint Anne's, 
Appoquinimink (Middletown), where 
work was begun in 1705, and Saint 
James's, Whiteclay Creek (Stanton), 
where a church was opened on July 4, 
1717. ^ 

Christ Church, Dover, originally 
Saint John's or Saint Paul's, is the 
mother-parish of Kent County. The 




x.m 




IMMANUEL CHURCH, NEW CASTLE 

first settled missionary, the Reverend 
Thomas Crawford, came in 1704, and 




CHRIST CHURCH, DOVER 






How Our Church Came to Our Country 




SAINT PETER'S CHURCH, LEWES 

three years later the first church was 
built. The present church dates from 
about 1730 and has been beautifully- 
restored in recent years. An S. P. G. 
report of 1728 thus summarizes Mr. 
Crawford's letters : "Soon after Mr. 
Crawford's coming among them, not 
only the masters of families brought 
their children to be baptized, but many 
grown persons, who once had preju- 
dices to the Church, desired and re- 
ceived baptism ; in about two years' 
time Mr. Crawford baptized above 
230, young and old, in his own ap- 
pointed cure, besides many others in 
places which were not within his 
charge. He was very constant in his 
labors, and did not confine them to 
Dover town, and the adjacent parts, 
but preached up and down the county 
which is above 50 miles long, at sev- 
eral places. His general audience was 
from 50 to near 200 persons, and he 
ordinarily had 30 and 40 communi- 
cants. The people at his first coming 



among them were very ignorant; in- 
somuch that he informs, not one man 
in the county understood how the 
Common Prayer Book was to be read ; 
and he was forced to instruct them 
privately at home in the method of 
reading the liturgy ; for the more gen- 
eral instruction of the people, he used 
to preach one Sunday at the upper 
end of the county (Duck Creek, now 
Smyrna), another at Dover church, 
and a third at the lower end of the 
county (Mispilion, now Milford). 
He used to catechise the children all 
the summer long before sermon, but 
not in winter. The people improved 
much, became serious and grave in 
their behaviour in church, and brought 
their children very regularly for bap- 
tism; though a great many of them 
were Quakers' children or were Qua- 
kers themselves. He was also invited 
by the people of Sussex County to 
come and preach for them, which he 
did, at Captain Hill's house in Lewis- 
town, and at other places. The peo- 
ple of this county also were of a re- 
ligious disposition." This is a good 
example of the kind of work done by 
all the S. P. G. missionaries in this and 
the adjacent colonies. 

Saint Peter's, Lewes, is the mother- 
church of Sussex County. Its history 
may go back to the seventeenth cen- 
tury; but nothing definite is known 
before the coming of the first S. P. G. 
missionary, the Reverend Thomas 
Black, in 1708. The chief missionary, 
however, was the Reverend William 
Becket, who came to Lewes in 1721 
and remained there until his death in 
1743. The first church was completed 
in 1722 or 1723; and two churches 
were built in the neighboring part of 
the county, Saint John Baptist's in the 
Wilderness (Milton) and Saint 
George's, Indian River. Becket was 
very active both in Sussex County 
and in Kent. "His necessary labours 
were very great, for he was obliged to 
travel 70 or 80 miles every week, to 
discharge the duties of his function, in 



an 



205 






«ll?; 




I* : 



OLD SAINT ANNE'S, MIDDLETOWN 



several places ; that large county, 50 
miles in length and 20 in breadth be- 
ing all reckoned in his parish." Becket 
sent very encouraging reports to Lon- 
don: "We have now three churches 
in this county, yet none of them will 
contain the hearers that would con- 
stantly attend divine service : the peo- 
ple at a good time of the year make no 
account of riding 20 miles to church; 
a thing very common in this part of 
America ; which is sufficient to shew 
that our people have a great value for 
the favour of the Society, and that our 
labour is not lost in this distant part 
of the world." 

Other old churches in Sussex 
County still standing are Prince 
George's, Dagsboro', built as early as 
1717, and Old Christ Church, Broad 
Creek (Laurel), dating from 1771. 
They were built in a section of the 
county which in colonial times formed 
part of Maryland, not of Pennsyl- 
vania. Hence they were not served by 
missionaries of the S. P. G., as the 
Society did not assume responsibilities 
for Maryland and Virginia, since these 
colonies were better able than the 



others to provide clergy for them- 
selves. The whole history of the 
Church in Delaware is an example of 
the need of foreign missions. Most 
that our Church possesses is ultimate- 
ly due to the missionary interest of 
good people in London and Sweden 
two centuries ago. 

777. The General Convention of 
1786 

In spite of its smallness the state of 
Delaware has a distinguished place in 
the history of the Union. The "lower 
counties" of Pennsylvania took 
prompt action in 1776 to assure Dela- 
ware's position as an independent 
commonwealth. They adopted the 
name "the Delaware State, formerly 
styled the Government of the Counties 
of New Castle, Kent and Sussex upon 
Delaware". Delaware delegates to the 
Continental Congress played an im- 
portant part in the discussions con- 
cerning independence and the Consti- 
tution. Its legislature was the first 
to ratify the Constitution on Decem- 
ber 7, 1787, thereby giving Delaware 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



the high position of first of the states. 
Delaware was a State before there was 
a Union. The Union began when 
Pennsylvania also ratified the Consti- 
tution ; and these two states were 
shortly after joined by New Jersey. It 
might be said that the nucleus of the 
American Union is that bit of the Del- 
aware River where these three states 
touch each other. The distinction of 
being represented by the first star and 
first stripe in the Flag is one which 
Delawareans never forget. 

The diocese of Delaware has but 
one point of contact with the history 
of the Church as a whole ; but this is 
so important that it gives to the dio- 
cese interesting associations which 
may be compared to those in national 
history of the Delaware State. Wil- 
mington was the scene of the meeting 
of a convention which took action of 
critical importance for our Church. 
On October 10 and 11, 1786, an ad- 
journed General Convention met in 
the Wilmington Academy after a serv- 
ice in the Old Swedes' Church. On 
its proceedings the Church's future de- 
pended. In the troubled times of the 
Revolutionary War, colonial Church- 
men had done the best they could to 
maintain a precarious life for those 
congregations established as missions 
of the Church of England ; but it had 
been uncertain whether they could 
maintain an ecclesiastical organization 
which would perpetuate the distin- 
guishing principles of the English 
Church. Many proposals were made ; 
and in those days of slight knowledge 
of the principles of historic Christian- 
ity and of many difficulties and per- 
plexities, it would not have been 
strange if the Church of England had 
ceased to be represented in this coun- 
try. Some did not care to maintain 
all its doctrines and discipline ; more 
felt that it would be impossible to per- 
petuate its Orders. There had never 
been bishops in America; and now it 
seemed impossible to secure them. 
Many of these perplexities were rep- 



resented in a suggested revision of the 
Prayer Book, known as the "Proposed 
Book", from which were omitted the 
Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, repre- 
senting the doctrines of the undivided 
Church, and also most of the Prayer 
Book's sacramental teaching as was 
afterward done in the Prayer Book 
of the "Reformed Episcopalians". 
There would have been no perpetua- 
tion of the principles of the Church 
of England if some of the proposals 
of this Book had been adopted, or if 
Anglican Orders had not been con- 
tinued by securing the episcopate. The 
Preface to the Prayer Book states: 
"It will appear that this Church is far 
from intending to depart from the 
Church of England in any essential 
point of doctrine, discipline or wor- 
ship." The action which made this 
clear was taken by the General Con- 
vention which met in Wilmington. 

A petition had been sent to the Eng- 
lish archbishops to consecrate bishops 
for America. They were willing to 
grant it, if certain parliamentary ar- 
rangements had been made; but they 
had heard of the "Proposed Book", 
and felt that they could assume no re- 
sponsibility for a religious body which 
seemed likely to abandon doctrines of 
the Church of England and of the 
ancient Catholic Church. Hence they 
agreed only to consecrate bishops if 
assurances were given that the newly 
organized Church in America would 
maintain the essential principles of the 
English Church. This assurance was 
given by the Convention of 1786, 
which, ignoring the "Proposed Book", 
affirmed its loyalty to the Prayer Book 
and in particular voted for the reten- 
tion of the Nicene Creed. This done, 
the credentials of three bishops-elect 
were signed, two of whom, Dr. White 
of Pennsylvania and Dr. Provoost of 
New York, were soon after conse- 
crated in the chapel at Lambeth Pal- 
ace. The securing of the episcopate 
on assurances of loyalty to the Prayer 
Book was the decisive action which 



207 




BISHOPSTEAD 



determined the character and line of 
development of this Protestant Epis- 
copal Church. And this action was 
taken in Delaware. 

IV. Later History of the Diocese 
The beginnings of our Church's 
work in Delaware all go back to Co- 
lonial times. Of forty parishes and 
missions now in the diocese, fourteen 
have been in existence for about two 
hundred years and seven others for 
most of the past century. Only in 
Wilmington where there are a number 
of city-parishes is our Church's work 
not an obvious development of what 
was started by S. P. G. missionaries. 
The later history may be briefly 
summarized. Delaware's diocesan ex- 
istence dates from 1786 ; but for sixty- 
five years its congregations were 
under the care of neighboring bishops, 
for the most part the bishops of Penn- 
sylvania. Bishop White held confir- 
mations in New Castle and Wilming- 



ton ; but the first bishop to visit all 
parts of the diocese was his successor, 
Bishop Henry Ustick Onderdonk, 
who, as provisional bishop of the dio- 
cese of Delaware for eight years, made 
regular semi-annual visitations, helped 
to revive decadent parishes, assisted in 
the formation of several new ones, 
and made possible in 1841 the election 
of the first Bishop of Delaware, Dr. 
Alfred Lee. Bishop Lee administered 
the diocese for almost forty-six years 
and died presiding bishop of the 
Church. During his long episcopate 
the work of the diocese assumed the 
proportions which have since been 
maintained. There are several strong 
parishes in Wilmington, and parishes 
or mission-stations in all the more im- 
portant towns of the state. In a coun- 
try-diocese there is always necessity 
for extending help to struggling mis- 
sions and decaying parishes, and 
plenty of opportunity for missionary 
work in places near home. The Wil- 
mington parishes have been thought- 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




BISHOP KINSMAN 

ful and generous in their aid of con- 
gregations in south Delaware. The 
smallness of the diocese has made pos- 



sible a general acquaintance among all 
Church-people, so that outsiders are 
likely to comment on the home-like 
character of the diocesan gatherings. 
An interesting missionary feature of 
Delaware Church life has been a spe- 
cial interest, owing to Bishop Lee's 
personal share in it, in the work of 
our mission in Mexico. 

The bishops of Delaware have al- 
ways lived in Bishopstead, an inter- 
esting old colonial house in Wilming- 
ton on the banks of the Brandywine. 
Bishop Lee bought this for himself in 
1842 when the house was a century 
old. After his death it was presented 
to the diocese by Mr. Francis Gurney 
duPont, who built a beautiful chapel 
adjoining it shortly after the conse- 
cration of the second bishop, Dr. 
Leighton Coleman, who for nineteen 
years ably administered the affairs of 
the diocese. He carried on many good 
works both within and without the 
state and was greatly beloved by 
everyone. The present bishop of 
Delaware is the third and was con- 
secrated in 1908. 



CLASS WORK ON "HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO' 

DELAWARE" 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

Any good American history will fur- 
nish the facts of the early settlement of 
Delaware. As regards the establishment 
of the Church, Perry's History of the 
American Episcopal Church, Chapter XIII, 
gives many interesting details. Bishop 
Alfred Lee's Planting and Watering is 
good if it can be obtained. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 
Bring a map to the class and have the 
members look up the places where 
churches were built before the Revolu- 
tion. Bring out the fact that in compari- 
son with its size Delaware has more 
colonial churches than any other state. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. Settlement of Delaware. 

1. Who were the first Delaware settlers? 

2. What Swedish missionary built the 

first church in Wilmington? 

3. How did the Swedish and English 

clergy help each other? 



4. What gift did the Church of Sweden 
make to us in 1790? 

II. Missions of the S. P. G. 

1. What do the initials 4< S. P. G." mean? 

2. Name some of the churches founded 

or helped by this society. 

3. What kind of work did the S. P. G. 

missionaries do? 

4. What did Queen Anne send to Im- 

manuel Church, New Castle? 

III. The General Convention of 1786. 

1. How did Delaware earn the right to 

the first star on "Old Glory"? 

2. Where did the 1786 convention meet? 

3. What depended on its action? 

4. What two bishops did it send to 

England for consecration? 

IV. Later History of the Diocese. 

1. Name the first Bishop of Delaware. 

2. What mission field is Delaware in- 

terested in, and why? 

3. What about the second bishop? 

4. Who is the present bishop? 



PUBLISHED BY MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 5 CENTS. 



209 



Hoto <®ux Cfmrd) Came to ®ut Country 



XXVII. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO SOUTH CAROLINA 
By the Reverend John Kershazv, D.D. 



I. First Attempts at Colonisation 

IN 1495 the Spaniards established 
themselves upon the island of 
Hayti or Hispaniola. Thence 
sailed Ponce de Leon seventeen years 
later and discovered the mainland of 
Florida, on Easter Day, Pascha Flori- 
dum, 1512, whence the supposed 
derivation of the name ''Florida". He 
landed near the present Saint Augus- 
tine, erected a stone cross and took 
possession in the name of Spain. About 
thirty-five years later, Admiral Co- 
ligny, leader of the Huguenot party in 
France, obtained leave from Charles 
IX to establish a colony in New 
France, the name given to the greater 
part of North America because of dis- 
coveries made by Frenchmen in Can- 
ada and on the Atlantic seaboard. This 
was the first colony that came to this 
continent in search of religious liberty. 
Under command of Jean Ribault the 
expedition sailed and reached the 
mouth of the Saint John's river on the 
first day of May, 1562. Sailing north- 
ward they cast anchor in Port Royal 
harbor, near the present town of Beau- 
fort. Ribault took possession of the 
region in the name of his king. Hence 
the name "Carolina". Returning to 
France for more settlers, Ribault left 
a small garrison behind, which, de- 
spairing of his return, built a ship and 
set sail for home. Some perished on 
the way, and all probably would have 
had not an English ship rescued them. 
In 1564, Coligny revived his project 
of colonizing Carolina, and an expedi- 
tion sailed under Landonniere for the 



new land. They landed and erected a 
fort on the Saint John's river, which 
was named Fort Caroline. Meantime 
Ribault returned and took command. 
But the Spaniards from Saint Augus- 
tine under Menendez assaulted and 
took the fort and massacred the gar- 
rison. The story is told that when 
Menendez hanged his prisoners, he 
placed a placard on the tree with this 
inscription: "I do not this as to 
Frenchmen; but as to heretics". This 
was afterwards avenged by the Cheva- 
lier de Gourges, who, hanging the 
captured Spaniards to the same tree, 
affixed this inscription : "I did riot this 
as to Spaniards, nor as to infidels, but 
as to traitors, thieves and murderers". 
Thus ended the first attempt to estab- 
lish a colony in South Carolina. 

The first English colony planted in 
South Carolina was that sent out un- 
der the charters of 1663-65 of Charles 
II, two years after the restoration of 
royal government in England, granted 
to several of his adherents who 
claimed to be moved by "a laudable 
and pious zeal for the propagation of 
the Christian faith and the enlarge- 
ment of our Empire and Dominions". 
These men were the Earl of Claren- 
don, the companion and counsellor, in 
exile, of the king; George, Duke of 
Albemarle, better known as the fa- 
mous General George Mond; William, 
Earl Craven ; John, Lord Berkeley ; 
Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ash- 
ley, after whom the Ashley and Coop- 
er rivers that make Charleston harbor 
were named ; Sir George Carteret ; Sir 
John Colleton and Sir William Berke- 







THE SECOND SAINT PHILIP'S CHURCH, CHARLESTON 



ley, brother of Lord John Berkeley. 
These men were known as the Lords 
Proprietors, and their grant covered) 
territory extending north and south' 
from Virginia to and including part of) 
Florida, and west indefinitely. The 
Proprietors were licensed to build and 
found churches, chapels, and oratories, 
and cause them to be dedicated and 
consecrated according to the ecclesias- 
tical laws of England. 

It was a time of much religious con- 
troversy; and as it was expected that 
many "dissenters" would seek the new ( 
colony if liberty of conscience was' 
protected, it was provided in the char- 
ter that the Proprietors should have 
authority to grant to all such as could 
not in conscience "conform to the pub- 
lic exercise of religion according to 
the liturgy, form and ceremonies of 



the Church of England, or take and 
subscribe to the oaths and articles 
made and established in that behalf" 
such indulgences and dispensation 
( as in their discretion they might see 
fit and reasonable. 



//. Settlement of Charles Town 

The expedition sent out by the Pro- 
prietors, after a brief stay at Port 
Royal, sailed up the coast and entered 
what is now Charleston harbor. Pro- 
ceeding up the Kiawha (Ashley) river 
they landed on the first high point that 
they came to, in April, 1670, where, 
,two years later, they proceeded to lay 
out a town. The site proving unsatis- 
factory, a move was made in 1680 to 
Oyster Point, and the settlement 
named "Charles Town". In 1682 it 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



211 



was said to be "regularly laid 
out into large and capacious 
streets". In the plan of it a place 
was reserved for a church. It 
was at the corner of Broad and 
Meeting Streets. There, be- 
tween 1682 and 1690 a church 
was built. It was usually called 
the English Church but its spe- 
cific name was Saint Philip's. 
On its site now stands Saint 
Michael's Church, Saint Philip's 
having been meanwhile removed 
to the site it now occupies on 
Church street. "So this spot," 
says an historian, "set apart at 
the very inception of the Prov- 
ince, has remained until this day 
consecrated to the service of 
God, and separated from all un- 
hallowed, worldly, and common 
uses". The first Saint Philip's 
was built of "black cypress upon 
a brick foundation" and is de- 
scribed as "large and stately, 
surrounded by a neat palisade". 
The first clergyman of the 
Church in Charles Town was the 



Reverend Atkin Williamson. He was 
here in 1680 and officiated for some 





SAINT MICHAEL'S CHURCH, CHARLESTON, ERECTED 1752-1761 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




POMPION HILL CHAPEL 

years in Saint Philip's. He was fol- 
lowed by the Reverend Samuel Mar- 
shall, M.A., in 1696, who succumbed 
two years later to yellow fever. He 
was "an amiable, learned and pious 
man, whose conduct and talents had 
given great satisfaction". From this 
time Saint Philip's was regularly 
served by clergymen from England 
sent out by request of the governors 
of the colony from time to time as 
occasion called for. 

In 1701 the Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts 
was organized in London. Its first 
missionary to South Carolina was the 
Reverend Samuel Thomas. His 
troubles began before the ship he had 
taken passage on left England. He 
says he was "forc'd to lye upon a 
chest" and "after many importunate 
and humble persuasions" he at last ob- 
tained leave to read prayers daily but 
he was "curs'd and treated very ill on 
board". His ship touching at Plym- 
outh he was so ill that his life was de- 
spaired of. When he had sufficiently 
recovered he took passage on another 



ship, with a civil captain, and for the 
rest of the voyage he "read prayers 
thrice every day, and preached and 
catechised every Lord's Day". He 
was at sea twelve weeks and two days 
and arrived at Charles Town on 
Christmas Day, 1702. His mission, 
as projected by the Society, was not 
to the colonists but to the Indians, but 
Governor Johnson deeming it too dan- 
gerous for him to venture among them, 
he was placed in charge of the settle- 
ments on Cooper river, "where were 
many heathen (Indians and negro 
slaves) needing instruction", as well 
as many colonists, of whom Mr. 
Thomas speaks as "the best and most 
numerous congregation in all Caro- 
lina" who were as "sheep without a 
shepherd". Among these people Mr. 
Thomas ministered with great ear- 
nestness and some measure of success 
for several years. Returning to Eng- 
land in 1705 on private affairs he came 
back to the province only to die, much 
lamented by his parishioners. He was 
followed as the first missionary of the 
Society to the parish of Saint James, 
Goose Creek, by the Reverend Fran- 
cis Le Jau, D.D. He was diligent in 
performing the duties of his cure. A 
handsome church, still standing, be- 
ing the second to be erected on or near 
the same site, and a parsonage-house, 
were built irj 1714. By his recom- 
mendation the Society sent out a 
schoolmaster for the parish. Five 
years later the school, which was 
"good" and "increasing in numbers" 
was dispersed by the Indian Wars of 
1715, and most of the inhabitants took 
refuge in Charles Town for the period 
of the war's duration. In 1717 he died 
after a long and painful illness, and 
was buried at the foot of the altar. 

777. Growth Under the 
Commissaries 

As was the case in all the American 
Colonies, South Carolina was under 
the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the 




POMPION HILL CHAPEL 

The original chapel was the first church building erected outside of Charleston (1703) 



Bishop of London. In spite of earnest 
and continued efforts on the part of 
Churchmen in several of these col- 
onies to obtain the episcopate from 
England, this was denied to the col- 
onists, and instead "commissaries" 
were appointed in place of bishops. 
These officers exercised a delegated 
oversight of the clergy and laity, but 
could not perform any episcopal func- 
tion, such as consecrating churches, 
ordaining clergy or administering con- 
firmation. The Reverend Gideon John- 
ston was the first of these officers to 
be sent to South Carolina. He came 
in 1708 and was chosen rector of Saint 
Philip's. Returning home on a visit 
in 1713 he took with him "a Yamousee 
(Indian) prince, for instruction in the 
Christian religion and the manners of 
the English nation". The S. P. G. 
put the prince to school, and two years 
later, after due examination, he was 
baptized. The Society sent him home. 
He wrote a letter on reaching Charles 
Town, signing his name as "Prince 
George" thanking the Society for what 
they had done for him, saying he was 



a guest of Mr. Commissary Johnston 
and was being taught daily by Mrs. 
Johnston, and expressing the hope that 
he would "learn better than when he 
was in school". Mr. Johnston also 
prevailed on the chief of the Cher- 
okees to let him have his son for in- 
struction. Of the subsequent history 
of these young chiefs there is no rec- 
ord. Commissary Johnston was 
drowned in April, 1716. He and others 
had gone over the bar as an escort to 
Governor Craven, who was embarking 
for England. On their return a sud- 
den squall "overset their vessel" and 
he was drowned. "His body was 
brought to town and buried with every 
mark of respect and sorrow". In 1726 
the Reverend Alexander Garden, rec- 
tor of Saint Philip's, was appointed 
commissary for North and South 
Carolina and the Bahama Islands. He 
continued to exercise his office until 
1749. It is said of him that "he kept 
up strict discipline in his church ; was 
careful whom he admitted as sponsors 
for children at their baptism; refused 
the Communion to immoral persons. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




BISHOP ROBERT SMITH 



Nor would he marry any persons in 
Lent, nor on the other fast days pre- 
scribed by the Church. His charity 
was measured by rule. The exact tenth 
of his income was yearly given to the 
poor. In everything he was methodi- 
cal". It was in keeping with this that 
when the celebrated George Whitefield 
came to Charles Town in 1738, in 
deacon's orders, and conducted serv- 
ices without using the forms pre- 
scribed by the Church, he was cited 
by Commissary Garden to appear be- 
fore an ecclesiastical court to answer 
to these and other charges, such as 
''officiating as a minister in divers 
meeting-houses and praying and 
preaching to public congregations". 
Mr. Whitefield answered these 
charges, excepting to the authority of 
the Court and proposing to arbitrate 
the matter. When this was refused, 
he appealed to the Lords Commission- 
ers appointed by the King to hear ap- 
peals in spiritual causes. He seems 
not to have prosecuted his appeal, for 
after the expiration of the time al- 
lowed for that purpose, the court con- 
vened and suspended Mr. Whitefield 
from his office. The commissary be- 



gan a school for negroes in Charles 
Town. He took two young negroes 
into training with the object of send- 
ing them out, after their training was 
completed, to teach persons of their 
race in the country parishes. He re- 
signed his rectorship in 1753 and died 
in 1756. 

In 1751, Saint Michael's Parish was 
organized, the second in the city of 
Charles Town, and a church was au- 
thorized to be erected, but it was not 
until ten years later that the new 
church was opened for divine worship. 
It was built on the site of the original 
Saint Philip's, and still remains prac- 
tically unaltered until the present. It 
was at this time that the "Society for 
the Relief of the Widows and Chil- 
dren of the Clergy of the Church of 
England in the Province of South 
Carolina" was formed. It still con- 




BISHOP DEHON 
From an old silhouette 



215 




SAINT JAMES'S CHURCH, GOOSE CREEK 



tinttes a blessing to the widows and or- 
phans of our clergy, and was the first 
society founded in America for that 
purpose. Parochial libraries were pro- 
vided during this period in a number 
of the parishes, consisting chiefly of 
books on the doctrine, discipline and 
worship of the Church. 

IV. Earliest Days as a Diocese 

The relations between the Mother 
Country and the American Provinces 
had been growing more and more 
strained for some years and the spirit 
of revolt was in the air at the period 
of which we are speaking. Sentiment, 
however, was by no means all one way 
in South Carolina. Indeed there were 
many who sided with the Crown and 
were loyal to the land of their birth 
or ancestry. These divisions revealed 
themselves both in State and Church, 
which were really one because the 
Church of England was, since 1706, 
and had been by law, the Church of 
the province. When the storm broke 
at last and we went to war with Great 



Britain, five of our clergy returned to 
England, leaving fifteen to carry on the 
work. When the war was over, bit- 
terness and jealousy prevailed in the 
new state. It was reflected in the 
Church, and the process of recovery 
was slow, owing to the impoverish- 
ment of the people and the fact that 
everything English was regarded with 
dislike. After the meeting of clergy- 
men and laymen held in New York in 
1784, preliminary to the organization 
of the Church in the United States, 
the lay representatives of eight of the 
parishes and three of the clergy of 
South Carolina met in Charleston and 
decided to send delegates to the pro- 
posed General Convention to be held 
in Philadelphia in 1785. The next year 
at the meeting of the clergy and laity, 
the proposed Constitution of the 
Church in the U. S. A. agreed upon 
in Philadelphia was read, and it was 
decided to send the Reverend Robert 
Smith on to represent the Church in 
South Carolina, which he did with be- 
coming dignity and ability. It was he 
who in 1795 was chosen to be the first 



1G 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



bishop of this diocese and it was thus 
that the Church in South Carolina was 
at last fully organized. Bishop Smith 
was consecrated in Christ Church, 
Philadelphia, September 13, 1795. His 
consecrators were Bishops White, Pro- 
voost, Madison and Claggett. He was 
the sixth in the succession of the 
American episcopate. There is little 
of record concerning his administra- 
tion of his office, but that he bore his 
full share in the organization of our 
Church after the Revolution, and that 
he was the principal counsellor and 
guide of South Carolina Churchmen 
of that period, is the generous testi- 
mony of those who knew and survived 
him. He died in 1801. 

It was not until 1812 that his suc- 
cessor, the Reverend Theodore Dehon, 
was elected. He received his conse- 
cration also in Christ Church, Phil- 
adelphia, October 15, 1812. Under him 
the Church prospered. Dr. Dalcho, 
historian of the Church in South 
Carolina, states that the rite of con- 
firmation was first administered in this 
diocese by Bishop Dehon at Saint 
Michael's, Charleston, in 1813. He in- 



stituted also the custom of making an 
annual address to the convention of 
his diocese. The same historian re- 
lates that he confirmed more than a 
thousand persons in this diocese and a 
number in Georgia, many of them 
elderly people who, because there was 
no bishop to confirm them, had been 
admitted to the Holy Communion, as 
being ready and desirous to be con- 
firmed. He also consecrated five 
churches in this diocese and one in Sa- 
vannah. He died in 1817, mourned 
not only by the members of his own 
Church but by many others who had 
come to know and love him. He is 
buried "under the altar" of Saint 
Michael's Church, of which he was the 
rector while also bishop of the diocese. 
It was thus that the Church came 
to South Carolina. Its feeble begin- 
ning of two hundred and thirty years 
ago and the storms and stresses 
through which it has since passed have 
not been suffered in vain. Its bishops 
have been eight in number, viz. : 
Smith, Dehon, Bowen, Gadsden, Da- 
vis, Howe, Capers, and Guerry, the 
present incumbent. 



CLASS WORK 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

If possible procure the Life of Bishop 
Dehon, by John N. Norton ; also The Sol- 
dier-Bishop, a life of Bishop Capers by 
his son. The latter may be had in any 
public library. Dr. Frederick Dalcho's 
South Carolina is a comprehensive account 
of the Church prior to the Revolution. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

A good way to interest the class in South 
Carolina is to remind them that it was the 
scene of the first colony that came to this 
continent in search of religious liberty, and 
that the leader, Admiral Coligny, after his 
return to France, lost his life in the mas- 
sacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day, ordered 
by Charles the Ninth, after whom the 
Carolinas were named. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. First Attempts at Colonization. 

1. What nation sent the first colony to 
South Carolina? 

2. Who were some of the leaders of the 
first English colony? 



3. Who were the "Lords Proprietors" 
and how far did their territory extend? 

II. Settlement of Charleston. 

1. When and by whom was the city of 
Charleston settled? 

2. Which was Charleston's first church ? 

3. What great missionary society was 
organized in 1701? 

4. Tell of the trials of the first mission- 
ary on his voyage to Charleston. 

III. Growth Under the Commissaries. 

1. What is a "commissary"? 

2. Whom did Commissary Johnston take 
to England with him, and why? 

3. What can you tell about Commissary 
Garden? 

4. Which was the second parish? 

IV. Earliest Days as a Diocese. 

1. When did South Carolina send a rep- 
resentative to the General Convention? 

2. Who was' the first bishop? 

3. Who was the second bishop? How 
many did he confirm? 

4. How many bishops has South Caro- 
lina had? Name them. 



PUBLISHED BY MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 5 CENTS. 



217 




XXVIII. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO NEW HAMPSHIRE 
By the Reverend Lucius Waterman, D.D. 



I. The Church of England Comes 

to New Hampshire and Is 

Invited to Go Away, 

(1623- i 732) 

NEW HAMPSHIRE received its 
first white inhabitant almost 
three hundred years ago, in 1623. 
Those first settlers were Englishmen, 
and a good number of them were mem- 
bers of the Church of England. Where 
they came the Church came with them 
in their persons. How many of these 
adventurers cared anything for 
churches and prayers and the service 
of God, we know not, but at the end 
of fifteen years we hear of a church 
building in "Strawberry Bank" where 
the city of Portsmouth is now, and a 
certain Reverend Richard Gibson 
comes from Maine to be rector of it. 
But that did not last long. In 1642 
the few towns which had so far been 
settled in New Hampshire fell under 
the (usurped) authority of the Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts. 

The colony of Massachusetts Bay 
was made up mostly of the people 
called Puritans. You will hear a great 
deal about their coming to this 
country to get freedom to worship 
God in their own way. So they did. 
But they came also to set up a govern- 
ment under which nobody should have 
freedom to worship in any other way 
than theirs. Certain Royal Commis- 
sioners sent out from England to see 
what was really happening over here 
reported concerning them in 1665 on 
this wise: "They will not admit any 
one who is not a member of their 



church to the communion, nor their 
children to baptism. They did im- 
prison and barbarously use Mr. Jour- 
dain for baptizing children. Those 
whom they will not admit to the com- 
munion they compel to come to their 
sermons by forcing from them five 
shillings for every neglect; yet these 
men thought their own paying of one 
shilling for not coming to prayer in 
England was an intolerable tyranny. 
They have put many Quakers to death. 
First they banished them as Quakers 
upon pain of death, and then punished 
them for returning. They have beaten 
some to jelly and been (other ways) 
exceeding cruel to others. Whoever 
keeps Christmas Day is to pay five 
pounds." 

There is their picture for you ! They 
came here to establish "religious lib- 
erty" and they would not allow an 
Episcopalian congregation to gather 
for worship, nor an Episcopalian 
father to have his children baptized. 
They thought it wicked persecution to 
fine a man one shilling for not going 
to the old Church on Sunday in Eng- 
land, but it was all right to fine a man 
five shillings for absenting himself 
from their brand new Church in 
America! Let us see how they dealt 
with our church in Strawberry Bank. 
First they summoned Mr. Gibson to 
Boston and charged him with having 
baptized some children of the Isle of 
Shoals. Probably he had ! But these 
upholders of liberty would not toler- 
ate an Episcopalian going around and 
baptizing people's children for them. 
O! no! They did not imprison Mr. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




THE OLD BRATTLE ORGAN 

Gibson, nor even make him pay a fine. 
They just said that if he would go 
quietly back to England and stay there 
they would not do him any mischief. 
He saw what was best for him, and 
went. Then the Puritan majority in 
the town of Strawberry Bank voted 
that the church should be used for 
their own religious exercises and the 
oppressors thought that they had put 
an end to the Church of England in 
New Hampshire. They had put an 
end to it for many a long day. The 
government of New Hampshire by 
Massachusetts Bay people lasted only 
forty years, but it was still fifty years 
more before there was another attempt 
to have an Episcopal Church. For 
one thing, Episcopalians did not care 
to come in great numbers to a region 
where persecuting Puritanism was 
known to hold the field. But the 
Royal Governors of the Province were 
mostly Church of England men, and 
there were a few others who wanted 
to worship God in the Church's way, 
so after ninety years the Church came 
to minister in New Hampshire once 
more. 



77. The Church of England 

Comes Again and Comes to 

Stay (1732- 1 781) 

In 1732 things began to happen in 
Portsmouth.* A London merchant 
with the happy name of "Hope" gave 
land for a church, where Saint John's 
stands today, and the English Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel in 
Foreign Parts — its friends call it "S, 
P. G.", and every American Church- 
man ought to be taught to love that 
name — gave help, and a little church 
was built. It did not bear the name of 
any saint. That would have stirred up 
too much prejudice. It was called 
"Queen's Chapel" in honor of Caro- 
line, consort of George II, and the 
Queen was pleased to present the 
chapel with silver Communion ves- 
sels, Prayer Book, and two chairs. 
The chapel was burned in 1806, but 
Saint John's Church, which succeeded 
it, still keeps the silver, the Prayer 
Book, and one of the chairs, and 
points with pride to the fact that 
George Washington once sat in that 
chair in the governor's pew in the old 
building. Officers of the British army 
gave the chapel a bell later, which they 
brought from captured Louisburg in 
French Canada, and that bell recast 
after the fire by Paul Revere (the Re- 
vere of the famous ride) still rings in 
Saint John's tower. And the cher- 
ished possession of Saint John's Par- 
ish is the first pipe organ ever heard 
in America, which Mr. John Brattle 
of Boston imported in 1713. He left 
it in his will to a Puritan congrega- 
tion, on condition that they get an 
organist to play it. They did not meet 
the condition, and the organ went to 
King's Chapel, then the Episcopal 
Church of Boston. Later it was sold 
to Saint Paul's Church, Newburyport, 
Massachusetts, and then (in 1836) to 
Saint John's, Portsmouth, for its 
chapel, where it is still in use. 



*Strawberry Bank was incorporated as Ports- 
mouth in 1653. 



219! 




UNION CHURCH, WEST CLAREMONT 

This was the first parish organised in the valley of the Connecticut north of the Massachusetts line. The 

plan is said to have been furnished by Governor Wentworth, who promised to give the nails and glass 

needed, and also a bell and organ — which promises, however, could not be kept 



But we must go back to the fifty 
years beginning with 1832. It has 
been said that Church of England men 
did not come much to New Hamp- 
shire held in the Puritan grip. In these 
fifty years there came a new migra- 
tion, rapidly increasing the number of 
townships in the Connecticut river val- 
ley, and a large part of this movement 
came from Connecticut where the 
Church was comparatively strong. 
Such a group laid out the town of 
Claremont, and in 1771 the Episco- 
palians among them called the Rever- 
end Ranna Cossitt to be their rector. 
In 1773 they built a church which still 
keeps the name of "Union Church" 
and still stands in the eastern part of 
the town, the oldest building now 
owned by the Episcopal Church in 
New Hampshire. Services are still 
held in this venerable church. 



In illustration of the way in which 
the Church draws its members from 
diverse beginnings it may be noted that 
the Cossitts were originally a French 
Huguenot family. Their name was 
properly Cosette, and Ranna is a cor- 
ruption of the French, Rene (reborn, 
regenerate). Mr. Cossitt deserved 
that particularly Christian name. One 
of the stories told of him is that hav- 
ing had to borrow money in his deep 
poverty, and to give a note to secure 
the payment of the loan, he was vis- 
ited one day by his creditor with a 
demand for immediate payment. In 
vain the clergyman protested that he 
had not the money. Give him time, 
and he would pay all. No! Every 
penny must be paid at once, or the 
creditor would seize all Mr. Cossitt's 
household goods and have them sold, 
leaving his family without the neces- 



20 




HOLDERNESS SCHOOL, PLYMOUTH 
The diocesan school for boys 



saries of life. Then, as the hard- 
hearted creditor was riding off, Mr. 
Cossitt called to him from the door, 
"My friend, if you are determined to 
carry out this purpose, you will need 
your note. When you were here to 
get the last payment, which is endorsed 
upon it, you inadvertently left it on 
the table. I have kept it safely. Here 
it is, sir." It is pleasant to add that 
this exhibition of inflexible honesty 
touched the heart of the cruel creditor 
and shamed him so that he did after 
all give his debtor reasonable time. 

But more trials were awaiting such 
men as Mr. Cossitt. When the storm 
of the American Revolution broke in 
1775, what was an Episcopalian clergy- 
man to do? He might think that the 
colonies had a just complaint against 
the English Government, and a right 
to rebel against it. But he at his ordi- 
nation in England had taken two sol- 
emn oaths. He had sworn to use the 
Prayer Book without alteration, and 
there was the prayer for the King to 
be said in every service. Again, he 
had taken a particular oath of alle- 
giance to the English King. Most of 



our clergy felt bound in conscience to 
give their loyalty to the government 
of the mother country rather than to 
revolt against it. Then, naturally, 
there was much persecution once more. 
Mr. Cossitt was held a prisoner for a 
long time, and even had his life threat- 
ened by angry patriots of the new 
order. At Portsmouth, the church 
was closed, and no clergyman could 
be obtained. Reverend Nathan Byles 
wrote from Boston to the S. P. G., 
"If government should not be re-estab- 
lished", — he meant, of course, the gov- 
ernment of the English King and Par- 
liament, — "I am well convinced that 
no Episcopal Church will be tolerated 
in New England." Yet really, even 
in those dark days, the Church was 
growing stronger. While Mr. Cossitt 
was suffering persecution in Clare- 
mont, the families of his charge grew 
from twenty-seven to forty-three. In 
1781 it was reported to the S. P. G. 
that "the Episcopal congregations of 
Massachusetts and New Hampshire 
have greatly increased, even where 
they have had no ministry." The 
Church had come to stay. 



221 




SAINT PAUL'S SCHOOL, CONCORD, FROM THE LAKE 
Founded by Dr. George C. Shattuck of Boston in 1856 



777. The Church in New Hamp- 
shire Becomes American 
and Tries to Be Epis- 
copal (1781-1843) 

The year 1781 was a great turning 
point in our Church history, because 
in that year it became quite plain that 
the American Revolution had suc- 
ceeded and that the revolting Colonies 
were going to be separate and free 
from the Kingdom of Great Britain. 
It followed that what had been the 
Church of England in America must 
now be an independent American Epis- 
copal Church. That point being set- 
tled, a certain prejudice against the 
Church as being English and therefore 
un-American began to subside. Then 
further, the clergy who had felt 
obliged to hold to the King's cause, 
as long as the issue of the Revolution 
was in doubt, were felt to have suf- 
fered for conscience sake, and that 
always wins a certain amount of pub- 



lic favor. An S. P. G. Report of 1783 
speaks of the American clergy as 
"increasing in esteem for their steady 
conduct in diligently attending to the 
duties of their calling and preaching 
the Gospel unmixed with the politics 
of the day." That last point has ap- 
peared over and over in our history. 
In times of political excitement our 
clergy (whatever their personal opin- 
ions) have ministered equally to both 
parties in the conflict, and steadily 
refused to preach particular political 
views as part of the Christian religion. 
From the end of the war, then, the 
Episcopal Church in New Hampshire 
grew in power as a missionary Church, 
drawing back to the old religion people 
who had been brought up in modern 
ones. Thus in Claremont thirty fami- 
lies from the Congregational Church 
came over to the Episcopal Church in 
1790, and again, in 1793, Philander 
Chase, a student of Dartmouth Col- 
lege, who had got hold of a Prayer 
Book and had been deeply won by it, 
persuaded his relatives, and the ma- 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




SAINT MARY'S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, 
CONCORD 

This is the diocesan school for girls. Only the 

house in which the girls live is shown. There is 

also a school building and a gymnasium 



jority of the population of his town 
(Cornish, N. H.), to accept the Epis- 
copal way. This youth, only eighteen 
years old, had afterwards a remark- 
able history, coming to be the first 
Bishop of Ohio, and later of Illinois. 
He was one of New Hampshire's 
many good gifts to the Church at 
large. Cornish was our fourth parish, 
for a third had been organized in 1789 
at Holderness, in the center of the 
state, by an ardent Churchman, Judge 
Livermore. Holderness knew no other 
church for twenty-five years. 

But an Episcopal Church is a church 
watched over and led by a bishop, and 
our four congregations had no bishop 
and no organization. When the Gen- 
eral Convention of 1789 put forth an 
American Prayer Book, there was no 
diocese of New Hampshire, and the 
parish at Claremont actually voted to 
accept the new book as if it were an 
independent church all by itself. So 
it was a step forward, when in August, 
1802, three clergymen and six laymen 
met in Concord, as a conveniently cen- 



tral place — there was no church there, 
not even a congregation till more than 
thirty years later — and organized the 
Church in New Hampshire into a dio- 
cese. But getting together and calling 
these four parishes a diocese did not 
after all make them much of a force. 
Just think of it ! Hardly any of these 
Church people in New Hampshire had 
received God's gift of power in con- 
firmation. 

From 1810 to 1843 New Hampshire 
belonged to what was called "the East- 
ern Diocese", a union of all the New 
England States except Connecticut. 
Bishop Griswold, consecrated as bishop 
of this large field in 1811, was a saintly 
man, and wise, but he could not do 
much for New Hampshire in his 
thirty-one years of service. A turn- 
ing point, however, had come and that 
year Bishop Griswold came on a visi- 
tation and confirmed ninety-three per- 
sons in Portsmouth. The next year 
he visited Holderness and confirmed 
fifty. These were not children, be it 
understood. They were mostly com- 
municants of long standing, who had 
never had an opportunity before to 
receive the Holy Ghost by the laying 
on of hands. The number of com- 
municants reported in 1810 was only 
151. Twenty years later it had more 
than doubled, but stood at 394, as yet 
no more than a handful. 

IV. The Church in New Hamp- 
shire Gets a Head, and Then 
Goes Ahead (1843-1918) 

In 1843 the death of Bishop Gris- 
wold stirred men's hearts in the East- 
ern Diocese. Rhode Island elected a 
bishop of its own in April — Vermont 
had done so, with happy results, eleven 
years before — and New Hampshire, 
with but little over four hundred com- 
municants, adopted the same bold 
course in October and elected the Rev- 
erend Carlton Chase of Bellows Falls, 
Vermont. He was consecrated in Oc- 







BISHOP CHASE BISHOP NILES BISHOP PARKER 

The first, the second and the present bishops of New Hampshire 



tober, 1844. All that the diocese could 
offer him in the way of salary was 
$400 a year, and for years he had to 
get his real support by serving as rec- 
tor of Trinity Church, Claremont. 
Bishop Chase administered the diocese 
with wisdom and prudence, and left 
it stronger than he found it, with 1173 
communicants, as against 416. 

The most important thing that hap- 
pened in the diocese in his time was 
the founding (in 1856) of Saint Paul's 
School. A good physician of Boston, 
Dr. George C. Shattuck, feeling deeply 
that education must be of the whole 
man, and must include true religion in 
order to be true education, gave his 
farm, two miles from the center of 
the city of Concord, to be the seat of 
a school for boys, resembling in its 
best features the great endowed 
schools of England. Dr. Shattuck's 
trustees had the happiness of finding 
for the first rector the Reverend Henry 
A. Coit, one of the great school-mas- 
ters of history, and Saint Paul's School 
with its hundreds of alumni has come 
to be a power in the American Church. 
Though not a diocesan school it has 
been a source of great help to the dio- 
cese. Near the school stands the di- 
ocesan Orphans' Home, which was 
founded by Dr. Coit in 1866, when 



there was not an institution for the 
care of destitute orphans in the whole 
state of New Hampshire. In that phi- 
lanthropy our Church led the way. 

The year 1870 saw the death of 
Bishop Chase and the election and con- 
secration of the second bishop — W. 
W. Niles. Bishop Niles had been for 
some years professor of Latin in Trin- 
ity College, Hartford. As a teacher 
beloved by many pupils he was able to 
do much for the diocese in drawing 
men of gifts to the work of its min- 
istry. He came to be surrounded by 
a really remarkable group of clerical 
helpers, and the brotherliness of the 
New Hampshire clergy and their devo- 
tion to their bishop were widely noted. 
One cannot describe Bishop Niles in 
a sentence, but it deserves to be re- 
corded that his most marked charac- 
teristic was vividness, and particularly 
vividness of faith. To him "the invis- 
ible things were clearly seen". 'God 
and Heaven were as real to him as 
family and friends. Under his care 
the Church had larger growth than 
ever before. When he came, it was 
scarcely known in all the upper half 
of the state. When he died the North 
Country was dotted over with mission 
stations and summer churches. He 
lived as bishop more than forty-three 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



years, but his active work was limited 
to about thirty-five, ending with the 
consecration of his coadjutor in 1906. 
In those thirty-five years the number 
of communicants had grown from 
1,173 to 4,822, and that in a population 
which would stand still if it were not 
for the pouring in of foreigners. The 
chief memorial of the episcopate of 
Bishop Niles is found in the two di- 
ocesan schools, which are his creations 
— Holderness school for boys at Plym- 
outh, and Saint Mary's School for 
Girls, in the city of Concord. 

Bishop Parker was made coadjutor 
in 1906, and succeeded Bishop Niles 
in 1914. The diocesan growth has 
gone on well in these last twelve years 
with nearly 2,000 more communicants 
on our roll. It is an interesting fact 
about religious work in New Hamp- 
shire that the population on which our 



Church can work is nearly stationary, 
and the Protestant Churches are nearly 
stationary. Congregationalists and 
Baptists were both more numerous 
seventy-five or eighty years ago than 
they have ever been since. Methodists 
increase but slowly. But the Episco- 
pal Church in New Hampshire grows 
comparatively rapidly, although it has 
not had a hearing at all as yet in more 
than a small minority of the towns of 
the state. It has by no means over- 
taken its own opportunity. Very par- 
ticularly, also, this is a diocese which 
entertains strangers. It receives thou- 
sands of visitors to its lakes and moun- 
tains every summer. It does much for 
them while they are here. It sends 
some of them to their homes in other 
parts of the country with a feeling for 
our Church by which the Church in 
other dioceses will profit, by and by. 



CLASS WORK ON HOW THE CHURCH CAME TO 
NEW HAMPSHIRE 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON II. 

BESIDES the general Church histories 
by Tiffany, McConnell and Bishop 
Coleman, Puritanism, by the Reverend 
Dr. T. W. Coit, gives a vivid picture of 
religious conditions peculiar to early New 
England. Batchelder's History of the East' 
em Diocese is valuable but rare. 



THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Have the children look up on the map 
of England the county after which the new 
colony was named. Picture to them the 
courage it required to cross the ocean to an 
unknown land in the early part of the seven- 
teenth century. Tell them something about 
the Puritans in England. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 

I. The Church of England Comes to New 
Hampshire and Is Invited to Go 
Away 

1. Where and when were the first Church 

services held? 

2. What can you tell about the Puritans ? 

3. Why was Mr. Jourdain imprisoned? 

4. Why was Christmas not observed? 



The Church of England Comes Again 
and Comes to Stay 

1. What happened in Portsmouth in 1732? 

2. Why was the first church called 
"Queen's Chapel"? 

3. Give the history of the famous "Brat- 
tle" organ. 

4. Which is the oldest Church building in 
New Hampshire? 



III. The Church in New Hampshire Be- 
comes American and Tries to Be 
Episcopal 

1. Why is the year 1781 a notable one in 

our Church? 

2. What celebrated man did New Hamp- 

shire give to the Church? 

3. What was the "Eastern Diocese" and 

who was its bishop? 

IV. The Church in New Hampshire Gets 
a Head and Then Goes Ahead 

1. Who was the first bishop of New 

Hampshire? 

2. What was the most important thing 

that happened in his episcopate? 

3. Who was the second bishop and what 

schools did he found? 

4. When did Bishop Niles die and by 

whom was he succeeded? 



PUBLISHED BY MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 5 CENTS. 



225 




XXIX. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO NORTH CAROLINA 

By Bishop Cheshire 



I. The Earliest Colony 




T 



HE seal of 
the diocese of 
North Carolina 
shows a pinnace, fly- 
ing the red cross of 
Saint George, sailing 
towards a wooded 
shore, while a man 
standing in the prow 
holds out a cross 
toward the land. This is taken from 
John White's drawing of the Arrival 
of the Englishmen in Virginia in July, 
1584. The land which the pinnace 
is approaching is Roanoke Island. 
Two small ships lying outside the bar 
represent the two barks of Captains 
Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlow, 
"servants of Sir Walter Raleigh", who 
took possession of the newly-discov- 
ered land "in the right of the Queen's 
most excellent Majestic". This whole 
region they named "Virginia" in honor 
of Queen Elizabeth, and in its early 
use the name included the whole At- 
lantic coast held by the English. 

When the colony at Jamestown had 
been successfully established, the 
southern boundary of the Province 
of Virginia was the 36° 30' paral- 
lel of north latitude, so that it 
did not include Roanoke Island and 
the adjacent coasts. By the char- 
ters of Charles II in 1663 and 1665 
the vast region lying south of Virginia 
and north of the Spanish settlements 
in Florida was granted to eight emi- 
nent Englishmen known as the "Lords 
Proprietors of Carolina", and was 



erected into a Province, and the name 
"Carolina" was given to it. This name 
probably came originally from the 
French, who had attempted some set- 
tlements north of the Spaniards in the 
reign of Charles IX. It was first ap- 
plied to the country south of Virginia 
by Charles I of England in 1629, in 
a patent to Sir Robert Heath. Noth- 
ing having been attempted under that 
charter of Charles I, Charles II re- 
granted this region, and attached the 
name permanently to the country. It 
being too vast a tract to be conven- 
iently administered under one govern- 
ment, about 1710 the settlements along 
the north side of Albemarle Sound, 
begun about 1662, became the colony 
of "North Carolina", while the later 
settlements, at the junction of the Ash- 
ley and Cooper rivers, became "South 
Carolina". These two colonies eventu- 
ally developed into the states and 
dioceses of North and South Carolina. 
It happens therefore that the site of 
the first English colony in America, 
and the spot where the first ministra- 
tions of the Church were associated 
with the life of an English commu- 
nity on this continent, lies within the 
territory of the state of North Caro- 
lina and the diocese of East Carolina. 

In 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh sent out 
a large exploring expedition under 
Ralph Lane, with a view to preparing 
the way for permanent settlement. 
This expedition was brought out by 
that most illustrious Elizabethan naval 
hero, Sir Richard Grenville. In the 
company were Thomas Hariot, an emi- 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



nent Cambridge Scholar, who was to 
examine and report upon the natural 
productions of the country, and John 
White, a draughtsman, who was to 
make pictorial representations of the 
inhabitants, their dwellings and occu- 
pations, and the like. Thus Sir Wal- 
ter Raleigh anticipated the scientific 
expeditions of later years. This colony 
of exploration remained a year at 
Roanoke Island, returning to England 
in the fleet of Sir Francis Drake in 
the summer of 1586. 

In order to carry out his plans for 
the permanent settlement of the coun- 
try Raleigh, under his royal patent of 
1584, formed a corporation January 7, 
1587 (1586 old style) of nineteen citi- 
zens of London, who should advance 
money and supplies, and thirteen 
"gentlemen adventurers" who should 
personally head the enterprise. With 
John White as governor, these gentle- 
men adventurers were constituted the 
rulers of the colony, under the title of 
"The Governor and Assistants of the 
City of Raleigh in Virginia". 

Under this charter a colony of 
"ninety-one men, seventeen women 
and nine boys and children" sailed 
from Plymouth May 8, 1587, sighted 
land July sixteenth, somewhere in the 
vicinity of Cape Fear (Promontorium 
Tremendum), on which they narrowly 
escaped being cast away, made Hat- 
teras July twenty-second, and soon 
after landed at Roanoke. 

Two interesting events marked the 
opening days of this first English col- 
ony planted in North America. Ama- 
das and Barlow in 1584 had carried 
back with them to England two In- 
dians, Manteo and Wanchese. Manteo 
had become a convert to Christianity, 
and ever remained the faithful friend 
and ally of the English ; Wanchese be- 
came their implacable foe. Manteo 
returned to Roanoke with the colo- 
nists. We read in White's account of 
these days, "The thirteenth of Au- 
gust," that being the Ninth Sunday 
after Trinity, "our Savage Manteo, 



by the commandment of Sir Walter 
Raleigh was Christened in Roanoke 
and called Lord thereof, and of Dasa- 
monguepeuk, in reward of his faithful 
service. The eighteenth, Eleanor, 
daughter to the Governor, and wife 
to Ananias Dare, was delivered of a 
daughter in Roanoke, and the same 
was Christened there the Sunday fol- 
lowing, and because this was the first 
Christian born in Virginia, she was 
named 'Virginia'." These two bap- 
tisms practically settle the question 
of the presence of an English priest 
in the colony. 

And as this was almost the first 
thing we read of that ill-fated colony 
at Roanoke, so it is almost the last that 
we know of them. August twenty- 
seventh the fleet sailed back to Eng- 
land, John White, the governor, going 
with it, and that is the last we know 
of those whom he left behind in that 
strange and savage land. They were 
doubtless slain by the Indians, as the 
Jamestown colony, twenty years later, 
after diligent investigation, reported. 




STONE MARKING THE SITE OF 
FORT RALEIGH 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



227 



//. Permanent Settlement 

The permanent settlement of North 
Carolina dates from March, 1662 
(1661 old style). On that day George 
Durant purchased from an Indian 
Chief, Kilcocanen, styling himself 
"King of Yeopim", a neck of land be- 
tween Perquimans river and Albe- 
marle Sound, still known as "Durant's 
Neck". The deed was afterwards re- 
corded and is the oldest land title in 
North Carolina. 

By the end of the century the settle- 
ments extended along the whole north 
shore of the Sound, as far west as 
beyond the Chowan River, and also 
across the Sound on the south shore. 
The settlers came almost wholly from 
Virginia and were probably nominal 
Churchmen. The statement that they 
were Quakers and Baptists, fleeing 
from religious intolerance in New 
England and Virginia, has been en- 
tirely disproved by the publication of 
contemporary records. Wm. Edmund- 
son, the first Quaker preacher who 
visited the settlements, found only one., 
family of Quakers ten years after 
George Durant's settlement; and 
George Fox, who came six months 
after Edmundson, had much the same 
experience. Their preaching, however, 
made converts, and other zealous men 
coming in from year to year, and con- 
tinuing their work, meetings for wor- 
ship and for discipline were soon es- 
tablished, and Quakers became numer- 
ous and influential in the two precincts, 
Perquimans and Pasquotank. To the 
Quakers therefore belongs the honor 
of being the first to take thought of 
these feeble folk, and to set up Chris- 
tian worship among them. 

In 1699 Bishop Compton, preparing 
to send the Reverend Dr. Thomas 
Bray, his commissary, to Maryland, 
directed him to visit the Albemarle 
settlements, to learn the religious con- 
dition and needs of the people. For 
some reason he could not carry out 
his design, but about the end of 1700 



he sent, probably to Henderson 
Walker, acting governor, "some books 
of his own particular pious gift of the 
explanation of the Church catechism, 
with some other small books", for 
distribution. Soon after he sent one 
Daniel Brett, a clergyman, to officiate 
in the colony, and with him a hundred 
pounds' worth of books for a public 
library, eventually established at Bath. 
The Reverend Daniel Brett proved un- 
worthy and we hear no more of him. 

The leading men of the colony seem 
to have been almost without exception 
Churchmen and at the head of these 
was Henderson Walker, acting gover- 
nor. Under their influence the assem- 
bly of 1701 passed an act erecting the 
five precincts, Chowan, Perquimans, 
Pasquotank, and Currituck, north of 
Albemarle Sound, and Pamlico on the 
South Shore, into parishes, appointing 
a "select vestry" in each parish, au- 
thorizing these vestries to lay taxes 
for building churches, purchasing 
glebes, and employing clergymen and 
readers. By subsequent acts the ves- 
tries were made overseers of the poor 
and keepers of the standards of 
weights and measures. 

Thus, before any ministers had 
served in the colony, the people them- 
selves were endeavoring to set up the 
Church of their fathers. Every civil 
division was given also an ecclesiastical 
organization. And whatever may be 
said of the indifference of many and 
the opposition of some, this legal es- 
tablishment, each county being a parish 
with its wardens and vestrymen, was 
continued by the free action of the 
people of North Carolina in succes- 
sive enactments until 1776. 

This act of 1701, however faulty, 
at least gave evidence of a reviving 
interest in religion : it invited the at- 
tention of the mother country, and 
it provided some organization for the 
Church. Under this law a small 
church was built in Chowan parish, 
near the site of the present town of 



£2^ 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



Edenton; another in Perquimans, "a 
compact little church built with more 
care, and better contrived than that 
in Chowan". In these churches serv- 
ices were held, and sermons read on 
Sundays by "readers" employed and 
paid by the vestry. 

The Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel in foreign parts was incor- 
porated in 1701. It sent as its first 
missionary to North Carolina the Rev- 
erend John Blair, in the spring of 
1704. He came to explore and to re- 
port upon conditions and need, though 
it was intended that he should also re- 
main and minister to the people. He 
was a godly and faithful man. He 
baptized many children, visited the 
parishes of Chowan, Perquimans and 
Pasquotank, called the vestries to- 
gether, encouraged and instructed 
them in their duties, and urged them 
to keep up the services of the Church 
by the employment of readers. But 
the incessant labor of endeavoring to 
serve so large a field, the exposure and 
hardships, with the lack of an adequate 
support, brought his labors to an early 
close, and he left for England after 
only five or six months in Albemarle. 

It appears therefore that the intro- 
duction of the worship of the Church 
into North Carolina owed but little to 
the work or influence of the clergy. 
The act of the assembly was passed, 
churches were built, and the worship 
of the Church carried on by the peo- 
ple themselves. In one or two cases 
we get a little glimpse of the good 
work of the readers. Governor Glover 
thus writes of Mr. Charles Griffin: 
"This gentleman, being of an unblem- 
ished life, by his discreet behavior, in 
that office (of reader), and by apt 
discourses from house to house ac- 
cording to the capacities of an ignorant 
people, not only kept those he found, 
but joined many to the Church in the 
midst of its enemies, insomuch that 
the Reverend Richard Marsden, wait- 
ing here for a passage to South Caro- 
lina, thought it convenient to admin- 



ister the Sacrament of the Lord's Sup- 
per, which is the first time I can learn 
of its being administered in this poor 
county. This was done on Trinity 
Sunday, 1706, and the same day forty- 
five persons, infants and adults, were 
baptized." Another account a few 
years later is from the pen of the 
Reverend Mr. Denny, of South Caro- 
lina, who spent a few days in the par- 
ish of Pamlico, Bath County, where 
there had been no minister at all. He 
says: "During my stay I lodged at 
one Major Gale's (Christopher Gale, 
afterwards Chief Justice), a very civil 
gentleman, at whose house the people 
met each Sunday, where a young 
gentleman, a lawyer, was appointed to 
read prayers and a sermon, they hav- 
ing no minister." 

777. First Missionaries of the 
S. P. G. 

The next missionaries sent out to 
work under the S. P. G. were the Rev- 
erend Wm. Gordon and the Reverend 
James Adams, who came in April, 
1708. Mr. Gordon remained only a 
few months but the Reverend Mr. 
Adams labored faithfully and effec- 
tively, and wore himself out in the 
work, dying within a few weeks after 
his departure for Virginia in Septem- 
ber, 1710. They were both good men 
and their letters are our chief source 
of information concerning the first 
work of the Church in Albemarle. 

The year 1710 very nearly completed 
fifty years of the life of the colony 
of Albemarle, or North Carolina, as 
it had now begun to be called. The 
population was increasing not rapidly 
but ste?dily, spreading over several 
thousand square miles. It was wholly 
a rural population. Its first town, 
Bath, had been incorporated in 1709 
and contained less than a dozen houses. 
Its second town, Newbern, was barely 
begun and not yet incorporated. Eden- 
ton had not come into being. There 
was no center of population, and little 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



229 




SAINT THOMAS'S CHURCH, BATH 



community life. In almost all parts 
of the colony the people desired the 
ministrations of the Church but they 
were mostly living upon isolated plan- 
tations. No missionaries could reach 
and serve a sufficient number of peo- 
ple to form any effective organization. 
The legal establishment, with its power 
to levy taxes for the support of the 
Church, was a real disadvantage, be- 
cause it provided no adequate support 
while it took off the sense of obliga- 
tion from the most zealous members 
of the Church. Clergymen and mis- 
sionaries came and labored for a while 
and then disappeared ; some good, 
some indifferent, others weak and un- 
worthy; and very few of them, even 
the best, able to deal effectively with 
the strange conditions of the new and 
poor settlements. 

Gradually, however, some centers of 
ordered life began to emerge from 
the confusion. The first church build- 
ing worthy to be called permanent, in- 
dicating the development of a regu- 



lar congregation, is Saint Thomas's 
Church, Bath, still standing, begun in 
1742, but not finished until many years 
later. Three godly and faithful men 
served in this parish from 1721 to 
1771, and laid permanent foundations 
in the spiritual life of the country. 
These were Ebenezer Taylor, 1721-2; 
John Garzia, 1735-1744; and Alex- 
ander Stewart, 1753-1771. 

Taylor and Garzia died from the 
immediate effects of hardship and ex- 
posure in traveling over the vast ter- 
ritory under their care. The third, 
Alexander Stewart, wore himself out 
with incessant labor, leaving a name 
second to none in the history of Chris- 
tian work in North Carolina. The 
Negroes and the Indians claimed his 
special sympathy and care. He sought 
out the perishing remnants of the old 
Hatteras and Roanoke tribes, taught 
them the principles of Christianity, and 
established a school among them for 
the children. He crowned his work 
by sending over to England for ordi- 




SAINT PAUL'S CHURCH. EDENTON 



fe30 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



nation two notable men of the colony, 
Peter Blynn and Nathaniel Blount. 
In 1744 Clement Hall of Perquimans, 
a prominent man in his county, was 
ordered deacon and priest in London. 
Two Sundays in the month he offi- 
ciated in Saint Paul's Church, Eden- 
ton, and the other Sundays in distant 
missions where the settlers soon 
learned to love this holy man. On his 
missionary journeys east and west no 
house would hold his congregations. 
He had to seek the shelter of the 
groves, where the birds were the 
choristers, and where between the 
pauses in their music they heard "the 
bass of heaven's deep organ blow". 
During one of these missionary jour- 
neys in the months of September and 
October, 1753, he reports that he had 
in thirty-five days traveled 536 miles, 
officiated in twenty-three congrega- 
tions, baptized 467 white infants, two 
white adults, and twenty-one black 
children. A large and handsome 
church building had been begun in 
Edenton — Saint Paul's Parish Church, 
still standing. Under his zealous min- 
istry, the work was taken up with re- 
newed vigor, and put in the way of 
being finished. He died in 1759. 

IV. Colonial Churches 
The most notable of our Colonial 
churches was Saint Paul's, Chowan 
Parish, in the town of Edenton, which 
has already been noticed. Within a 
very few years of their foundation the 
Chowan vestry took as their ecclesias- 
tical name "Saint Paul's Church." 
This vestry met for organization De- 
cember 15, 1701, the vestry act having 
been passed November twelfth, pre- 
ceding. It is not only the oldest or- 
ganized religious body in the state, it 
is the oldest corporation of any kind 
in North Carolina. Its record book 
beginning with that first meeting is 
still in existence, and is an invaluable 
historical document. If we may at all 
judge the other parish vestries by 
Saint Paul's, the vestrymen of the 



parishes were the most eminent and 
worthy men of the country. Gover- 
nors Walker, Pollock, Glover, Chief 
Justice Christopher Gale, Edward 
Mosley and other distinguished names 
appear in these early vestry lists. Its 
spacious and handsome parish church, 
still in use, gives some indication of its 
strength and importance; while its 
communion silver bears names associ- 
ated with the early periods of its his- 
tory. The Reverend Clement Hall 
was succeeded in this parish by the 
Reverend Daniel Earl, who continued 
in charge until about the close of the 
Revolution. 

Newbern, the first important center 
of population south of Pamlico, was 
laid out about 1710 by Governor Pol- 
lock (in connection with the coming of 
De Graffenreid's colony from Berne 
and the Palatinate), but it was not in- 
corporated until 1823. The colonists 
upon their first coming desired that 
their Protestant pastor might be or- 
dained by the Bishop of London; and 
they seemed desirous of adopting the 
Prayer Book in their worship, and of 
conforming to the Church of England. 
The effect of the Indian War of 1711 
was so disastrous to all this section, 
that we know little of its religious his- 
tory until the coming of the Reverend 
James Reed in 1753 to be rector of 
Christ Church, Newbern, Craven Par- 
ish. Under him a handsome church 
was completed ; the "Newbern Acad- 
emy" was incorporated and estab- 
lished ; and the ministrations of the 
Church were extended through Craven 
county and the neighboring section. 
In 1770, Governor William Tryon re- 
moved to Newbern and made this 
town his official residence. The very 
handsome and massive communion 
service, now belonging to Christ 
Church, Newbern, was probably 
brought by Tryon to Newbern when 
he moved the seat of government. It 
seems to be mentioned in connection 
with the consecration of Saint Philip's 
Church, Brunswick, in 1768. 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



231 




COMMUNION SERVICE, CHRIST 
CHURCH, NEWBERN 



Perhaps the largest and handsomest 
of the Colonial churches in North 
Carolina was erected in Brunswick. 
Its massive brick walls, nearly three 
feet in thickness and even now prac- 
tically intact, though for a century ex- 
posed roofless to the weather, still 
attest its solid structure and its noble 
proportions. Saint Philip's Church, 
Brunswick, was consecrated, with an 
elaborate service approved by Gover- 
nor Tryon, on Tuesday in Whitsun- 
week, 1768, by the Reverend John Bar- 
nett and the Reverend John Wills. 
The King had sent to the province a 
communion service of massive silver 
for use in the King's Chapel; and Gov- 
ernor Tryon gave that designation to 
this church, since Brunswick was then 
his residence. It has upon the several 
pieces of heavy silver the royal arms, 
with the inscription "Ex Dono Regis", 
but without any designation of parish 
or of church. When Tryon a year or 
two later removed from the neighbor- 
hood of Brunswick to Newbern, and 
established himself in the official resi- 
dence erected for the governor of the 
province, that fact would seem to con- 
stitute Christ Church, Newbern, "the 
King's Chapel" in North Carolina ; and 
so the massive silver vessels sent over 
by the King would naturally be found 
there. 

In the meantime Wilmington had 
become the largest town in North Car- 
olina though not incorporated until 
1739. The older town of Brunswick 
was eventually abandoned on account 



of its exposed and unhealthy situation, 
and its wealth and culture were gradu- 
ally transferred to Wilmington. But 
of Saint James's Church, Wilmington, 
New Hanover Parish, we know little 
before the middle of the century. By 
that time a handsome church building 
was in process of erection, but was not 
finished until many years later. Be- 
fore that time we hear of a number of 
ministers officiating in this section 
from time to time; Ebenezer Taylor 
and Richard Marsden, both already 
mentioned, and others. Then came the 
Reverend John McDowell in 1754, the 
Reverend John Barnett in 1765, and 
the Reverend John Wills in 1769. 
The parish was becoming strong and 
influential, in a prosperous and rapidly 
growing community inheriting the tra- 
ditions of the Church. 

This brings us toward the end of 
the Colonial period. It must be said 
that the royal governors had all been 




SAINT JOHN'S CHURCH, 
WILLIAMSBORO 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



men disposed to advance the interests 
of religion among the people and to 
build up the Church of which they 
were members. Especially Governor 
Tryon was most zealous, liberal and 
energetic. He did more for the 
Church than all his predecessors. De- 
serving and enjoying the confidence 
and good will of the dissenters of the 
province, for his just and liberal 
course towards them, he at the same 
time exerted himself so earnestly and 
persistently for the Church that 
whereas he found on coming to North 
Carolina hardly half a dozen settled 
clergymen, he reports in 1770 eighteen 
ministers settled in as many parishes. 

There was a sad period of destruc- 
tion and decay soon to follow. But 
the foregoing is an attempt to show 
partially at least how our Church 
came to North Carolina. How it 
seemed to die down and then to revive 
in 1817, is another story. 



It will be observed that the "North 
Carolina" of the preceding pages is the 
state of North Carolina, and all the 
principal matters referred to were ter- 
ritorially within the limits of the pres- 
ent diocese of East Carolina, where 
all the early settlements were made. 
There is but one Colonial church build- 
ing in the present diocese of North 
Carolina, namely Saint John's Church, 
Williamsboro, a frame church, sound 
and solid today, though built in 1767, 
in the old Colonial parish of Saint 
John's, Granville. From that parish 
went Charles Pettigrew to be school- 
master in Edenton ; then to be ordained 
in London in 1775 (the last clergyman 
ordained in England for North Caro- 
lina) ; then in 1794 elected bishop of 
North Carolina. In the sad confusion 
and weakness of those days he died 
without having been consecrated. Not 
until 1817 was the diocese organized, 
and in 1823 the first bishop — John 
Stark Ravenscroft — was consecrated. 



CLASS WORK 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

OUTSIDE of the general Church his- 
tories, such as Tiffany's and McCon-. 
nell's, material on North Carolina is ex- 
tremely scarce. In preparing this article 
Bishop Cheshire has had access to records 
which are not available to the general pub- 
lic. It will therefore be a valuable addition 
to the early history of our Church and will 
itself supply all the material necessary for 
the preparation for the lesson, if supple- 
mented by any good secular history. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

There is no more fascinating chapter in 
the annals of our colonial life than that 
which chronicles the voyage of Sir Walter 
Raleigh, that brave and gallant courtier of 
Queen Elizabeth, who met with such a 
pathetic end. Ask the class to read up his 
life in their English histories". 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. The Arrival of the Englishmen in Vir- 
ginia. 

1. What is the seal of North Carolina? 

2. Explain how what is now known as 
North Carolina was then called Virginia. 

3. Which was the first English colony in 
America? 



II. Permanent Settlement 

1. When and where was the first perma- 
nent settlement _ of North Carolina made? 

2. What religious body was the first to 
set up Christian worship ? 

3. What five parishes did the assembly of 
1701 create? 

4. Whom did the S. P. G. send as its 
first missionary to North Carolina, and why 
did he not stay? 

III. First Missionaries of the S. P. G. 

1. Who were the next missionaries to be 
sent to North Carolina and what conditions 
did they find? 

2. Which was the first permanent- church 
building? 

3. Tell about Clement Hall's life and 
work in Edenton. 

IV. Colonial Churches. 

1. What eminent men served on the ves- 
try of Saint Paul's Church, Edenton? 

2. How did Newbern receive its name? 

3. What governor did much to build up 
the Church in the state? 

4. Who was the first man to be elected 
bishop of North Carolina? 

5. Who was the first to be consecrated 
as its bishop? 



PUBLISHED BY MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 5 CENTS. 



w Ofj 



Hoto (But Cfmrcf) Came to ®uv Country 



XXX. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO ALABAMA 
By the Reverend R. H. Cobbs, D.D. 



THE first services of the Church 
in Alabama were held about 
1763, when in the readjustment 
of territory that followed the French 
and Indian war France ceded Fort Mo- 
bile to England. It is not a bright 
page in the history of the Church in 
America. The conditions that pre- 
vailed in the frontier settlement were 
deplorable. The English governor 
was a brilliant but dissolute man, and 
the chaplain — with no record of bril- 
liancy — was even more dissolute. Oc- 
casional services were held in the gar- 
rison but the clergyman was so 
unworthy of his calling that even by 
the hardened soldiers and camp fol- 
lowers who composed the bulk of the 
settlement he was held in abhorrence. 
In 1764 the Society for the Propaga- 
tion of the Gospel sent the Reverend 
Samuel Hart, its missionary at 
Charleston, to this unpromising field. 
He stayed for a year and then, dis- 
couraged by the hopelessness of the 
situation, returned to his home, and so 
ended for the time being the life of the 
Church in Alabama. For thirty years, 
beginning in 1783, southern Alabama 
was in the hands of the Spanish who 
allowed no services but those of the 
Roman Church. In 1813 the whole of 
Alabama became part of the United 
States and settlers began to come down 
the rivers from northern Alabama and 
Tennessee. Among them were a few 
Churchmen who settled in Mobile, 
Tuscaloosa, and other points, and thus, 
with as yet no organization, the 
Church slowly grew in the state. 



/. The Birth of the Diocese 

In 1825 — sixty years after the Rev- 
erend Samuel Hart had shaken the 
dust of Fort Mobile from his feet — 
Christ Church, Mobile, was organized, 
and in 1826 a missionary sent by the 
five-year-old Domestic and Foreign 
Missionary Society was instrumental 
in forming the parish of Christ Church, 
Tuscaloosa. A little later congrega- 
tions were gathered at Greensboro and 
Huntsville. The rectors of these two 
parishes, with a handful of laymen, 
laid the foundations of the diocese of 
Alabama. 

The birth of the diocese is coinci- 
dent with a memorable journey under- 
taken by Bishop Brownell of Connecti- 
cut in 1829. Being solicitous about 
the vast amount of territory to the 
west and south which was as yet unex- 
plored so far as the Church was con- 
cerned, the newly-formed Domestic 
and Foreign Missionary Society asked 
the bishop — as the youngest of the 
American prelates and therefore pre- 
sumably the best suited to withstand 
the dangers and hardships of such a 
journey — to go west as far as the Mis- 
sissippi and south to New Orleans, 
taking a general survey of the country 
and performing such episcopal offices 
as might be desired. In the course of his 
journeyings Bishop Brownell came to 
Mobile, where he found that a meet- 
ing of Churchmen had been called for 
Saint Paul's Day, 1830, for "the pur- 
pose of giving a more efficient and per- 
manent character to the institutions of 



1234 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



the Church, and for the better admin- 
istration of its rites and ordinances". 
Bishop Brownell was asked to preside 
at this meeting, which seems to have 
been the first step taken toward or- 
ganizing the diocese. Two clergymen 
of the Church were then living in the 
state, the Reverend Mr. Shaw of 
Christ Church, Mobile, and the Rev- 
erend Mr. Muller of Christ Church, 
Tuscaloosa. These, with Bishop 
Brownell and his travelling companion, 
the Reverend William Richmond of 
Saint Michael's Church, New York, 
formed the clerical part of the meet- 
ing. Ten or twelve laymen were in 
attendance, principally from Mobile. 
At a second meeting held in May, the 
diocese was formally organized by the 
adoption of a constitution which recog- 
nized the authority of the Church in 
the United States, and the first con- 
vention, which met in Tuscaloosa on 
the third of January, 1831, invited 
Bishop Brownell to take charge of the 
parishes in the state and to perform 
such Episcopal services as might be 
required. He accepted the invitation 
and remained in charge of the diocese 
until 1840, when he requested to be 
relieved. It would seem indeed that 
at a time when railroads were un- 
known a residence in Connecticut 
would prevent much oversight of the 
Church in Alabama, but Bishop 
Brownell was a missionary-minded and 
far-seeing man who believed that the 
healthy growth of the Church as a 
whole must depend on the strengthen- 
ing of her weak dioceses, so he cheer- 
fully left his comfortable home in 
Hartford to face journeys "rivalling in 
extent the far-famed visitations of 
Bishop Heber in India". In addition 
to his visits in 1830 and 1831 he pre- 
sided at the convention which met in 
Tuscaloosa in 1835, when he confirmed 
several persons and consecrated Christ 
Church in that city. In 1837 he admin- 
istered confirmation in Christ Church, 
Mobile, when Dr. Samuel S. Lewis 
was the rector. 



After ten years Bishop Brownell 
asked to be relieved of his distant 
charge and the diocese was placed 
under the care of Bishop Polk of Lou- 
isiana who already had the oversight 
of Arkansas. The "soldier-bishop" 
brought to his task the courage and 
endurance which afterward endeared 
him to his command in the confederate 
army; his was the work of an evange- 
list as well as a bishop, "preaching 
from house to house as he had oppor- 
tunity, and constantly exhorting the 
people to care not only for their own 
souls but for the spiritual welfare of 
their negroes." It was impossible, 
however, for any man to cover such an 
enormous territory adequately, and 
Bishop Polk urged the election of a 
diocesan for Alabama. The conven- 
tions of 1842 and 1843 had called men 
to the episcopate, but both elections 
had been declined. On May third, 
1844, the convention met at Greens- 
boro and chose the Reverend Nicholas 
Hamner Cobbs, D.D., rector of Saint 
Paul's Church, Cincinnati. A new era 
had opened for Alabama. 

77. Alabama's First Bishop 

Bishop Cobbs was a Virginian by 
birth, the eldest of a goodly number 
of children. His mother, a staunch 
Churchwoman, carried her first-born 
sixty miles on horseback to be bap- 
tized as there was no clergyman in the 
county. His father, though not a relig- 
ious man, gave him the best education 
the neighborhood afforded and when 
he was seventeen, young Cobbs began 
to teach. Of a deeply religious na- 
ture, he felt that his vocation was the 
ministry and unaided began to study 
for ordination. 

So entirely was he deprived of any 
extraneous helps to devotion, that 
when he presented himself for ordina- 
tion he had only once previously par- 
ticipated in public worship according 
to the usage of the Church. "On one 
and the same day he was confirmed, 



235 



How Our Church Came to Our Country; 



ordered deacon and partook for the 
first time of the supper of the Lord." 
On his return to his home he began 
gathering the scattered Church people 
into congregations, and when he re- 
turned next year to be advanced to the 
priesthood had had the happiness of 
seeing the beginning of church build- 
ing in two places. Such was the man 
who accepted the call to be Alabama's 
first bishop. 

Missionary work in Alabama had 
been done irregularly and at intervals, 
but in 1843 a committee was appointed 
to inquire into the expediency of or- 
ganizing a diocesan missionary society. 
They reported favorably and in 1844 
the society was established. One of its 
first acts was to recommend the ap- 
pointment of a general missionary and 
evangelist "who should visit every por- 
tion of the diocese, record the names of 
all Church families wherever found, 
baptize the children, and encourage 
them to hope that they would be soon 
incorporated in some parish, and en- 
joying regular services." The need 
for such an evangelist was no longer 
felt when Bishop Cobbs came. He was 
himself the evangelist the diocese de- 
sired. He was a man full of apos- 
tolic zeal and fired with a spirit of love 
and devotion to the souls of men. He 
entered at once upon missionary work. 
As he went from point to point he in- 
quired diligently for every Church 
family, and wherever he heard of com- 
municants he made it a point to visit 
them. He stated on one occasion that 
so far as he could ascertain he had 
visited every Church family in the dio- 
cese living outside of some parish. He 
kept a record of such families and in 
1860 there were one hundred and three 
names on the list. 

Bishop Cobbs will be remembered in 
the Church as the originator of the 
American cathedral. On his return 
from a visit to England he wrote to 
one of his sons in Orders of a plan 
which he hoped his successor would 
carry out. "The plan is this," he says, 




BISHOP COBBS 
First Bishop of Alabama 

"to have a large church in the centre 
of a quadrangle, with free seats, to be 
.forever under the control of the 
bishop. . . . Around the church a 
number of neat, Gothic buildings" com- 
prising a library and house for the 
bishop, an infirmary and house of 
mercy, a house for candidates for Or- 
ders, a school, a house for deacon- 
esses and a house for six or eight dea- 
cons "who should go in and out doing 
missionary work on plantations and 
the surrounding country". Although 
the bishop did not live to see his plan 
realized, there is no doubt that he in- 
spired future generations with this 
ecclesiastical ideal. 

Another need of the Church which 
Bishop Cobbs had at heart was reli- 
gious education. He was one of the 
seven bishops from the "plantation" 
dioceses who, together with a great 
concourse of clergy and laity, met on 
the top of Lookout Mountain on the 
Fourth of July, 1857, to confer on this 
common interest. The outcome of this 
meeting was the University of the 
South, and the laying of the corner- 
stone of this institution at Sewanee, 



BG 




BISHOP BROWNELL 



BISHOP WILMER 



BISHOP BECKWITH 



Tennessee, in October, 1860, was about 
the last public function in which 
Bishop Cobbs took part. Soon after 
his health failed. On his deathbed he 
dictated a farewell message to his 
clergy in which he said : "Tell them I 
dislike party names and loathe party 
lines in the Church of Christ; but next 
to Christ, Who is the Head, I love the 
Church, which is His Body, with my 
whole heart." 

In the Providence of God the mis- 
sionary work of Bishop Cobbs was 
largely responsible for the growth of 
the diocese. The bishop's missionary 
zeal inspired the other clergy and right 
heartily did they follow his example, 
and so it came to pass that when he 
died there were few places of any size 
in Alabama where the services of the 
Church were not held. His diocese 
was always a household at unity with 
itself and he was the personal friend 
and helper of all. 

III. Bishop Wilmer 

The second bishop of Alabama en- 
tered on his episcopate in troublous 
times. On the day that Bishop Cobbs 
died, the thing that he had prayed he 
might not live to see came to pass — 
Alabama seceded from the Union. 
The convention that met soon after in 



Selma unanimously elected the Rev- 
erend Richard Hooker Wilmer, D.D., 
rector of Emmanuel Church, Brook 
Hill, Virginia. Dr. Wilmer accepted 
the election, but owing to the unsettled 
condition of the country his consecra- 
tion could not take place until March, 
1862. It was the last public act of the 
venerable Bishop Meade, who re- 
turned from Emmanuel Church to his 
deathbed. 

Bishop Wilmer came from a family 
distinguished in the Church. His 
father was a professor in the Theologi- 
cal Seminary of Virginia, which he 
had been instrumental in establishing, 
the first rector of Saint John's Church, 
Washington, and later president of 
William and Mary College. Two of 
his uncles and a brother were in the 
ministry ; his cousin, Joseph P. B. Wil- 
mer, was the second bishop of Louisi- 
ana. He was a man of commanding 
presence, six feet in height and broad 
in proportion, an eloquent preacher and 
of untiring energy. During a revival 
of religious interest in Richmond in 
the early days of his ministry he went 
there and preached daily, sometimes 
thrice, for several weeks. Business 
was largely suspended and crowds 
flocked to the services. 

The new bishop was a practical as 
well as a spiritually-minded man. One 



237 



: K 



\ 




CHRIST CHURCH, TUSCALOOSA 
Erected in 1829, this is the oldest church building in Alabama 



of his first episcopal acts was to es- 
tablish a home for orphans made by 
the civil war. To a friend who wrote 
saying that he found the dealing of 
God with Job's children a mystery and 
asking the bishop to "straighten it out" 
for him, he made the characteristic re- 
ply, "If you had as many crooked 
things to 'straighten out' as I have you 
would not bother about Job's children. 
. . . . Why not take hold of the 
present generation of children and help 
to straighten them out?" Like his 
friend Bishop Cobbs, whom he revered, 
he was impatient of party lines in the 
Church. To a clergyman who was 
troubled as to the propriety of altar 
lights, he wrote, "I wish that more of 
the Light of Heaven might shine upon 
altars and pulpits. It sickens me to 
think that our minds can dwell upon 
such little questions when the great 



questions of Life and Death are pend- 
ing." 

The limits of this article do not per- 
mit a detailed account of the varied ac- 
tivities of Bishop Winner's long epis- 
copate. We must content ourselves 
with a mere indication of the personal- 
ity of the man. Naturally he was fore- 
most in the councils of the Church. In 
the Providence of God he was spared 
to labor continuously in this corner of 
the Master's vineyard for thirty-eight 
/ears. When he died on June 14, 1900, 
his body was laid before the altar of 
Christ Church, Mobile, guarded by the 
clergy of the city in their robes, while 
a constant procession of all ages and 
beliefs filed past to obtain the last view 
of one they had known so well and 
loved so much. As he had wished, 
his body "assigned to Mother Earth" 
rests in Magnolia Cemetery, Mobile. 



23^ 



Kow Our Church Came to Our Country 







TRINITY CHURCH, MOBILE 

"One of the most beautiful and purely 

Gothic edifices in the South" 

IV. Some Early Parishes 

Christ Church, Mobile, is the mother 
parish of the diocese. Organized in 
1825, in 1828 it came under the care 
for a time of the Reverend Mr. Shaw. 
In 1830 the Reverend Norman Pinney 
was elected rector and the parish was 
admitted into union with the diocese 
which had just been formed. The 
present building was consecrated by 
Bishop Polk in 1841 during the rector- 
ship of the Reverend Samuel S. Lewis, 
D.D. He was succeeded by the Rev- 
erend Francis Prolian Lee, who lost 
his life while ministering to the victims 
of the yellow fever epidemic of 1847. 
His successor, the Reverend N. P. 
Knapp, remained in charge until 1854, 
when he too succumbed to overwork 
and anxiety during another visitation 
of the yellow scourge. In spite of these 



heavy misfortunes — or may it not have 
been in consequence of the devotion 
and unselfishness shown by her leaders 
— the parish prospered and began to 
enlarge her borders. 

In 1848 the Ladies' Missionary So- 
ciety of Christ Church made possible 
the founding of Trinity Church, Mo- 
bile, by guaranteeing the salary of the 
rector. At the request of Bishop 
Cobbs the Reverend J. A. Massey took 
charge and remained there for thirty 
years. When he arrived services were 
being held in a so-called Music Hall. 
Under his rectorship a double lot of 
land was purchased and a church, 
which is noted as one of the most beau- 
tiful and purely Gothic edifices in the 
South, was built. It was consecrated 
in 1878. 

These two churches were instru- 
mental in founding other parishes in 
Mobile. Saint John's Church was or- 
ganized in 1852 by three members of 
Christ Church on the foundation of a 
Sunday-school started by the rector of 
Trinity. In 1854 the Church of the 
Good Shepherd for colored people was 
begun by the joint efforts of the Mo- 
bile parishes as the outcome of a Sun- 
day-school opened many years before 
by Dr. Lewis. All Saints' parish was 
founded principally by Christ Church 
people on a Sunday-school and mission 
started by Saint John's parish. 

Christ Church, Tuscaloosa, while 
the second parish to be organized, has 
the oldest church building in the 
diocese, dating from 1829. In 1826 
the Domestic and Foreign Missionary 
Society sent the Reverend Robert 
Davis to Alabama. He did not re- 
main long but laid the foundations of 
this parish in what was then the capi- 
tal. He was succeeded by the Rev- 
erend W. H. Judd, who only lived six 
months after he arrived, but in that 
short time did much good. "He was a 
talented, pious and exemplary young 
man." After Mr. Judd came the Rev- 
erend Albert A. Muller, one of the two 
clergymen who sat in the first diocesan 



239 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



convention. A long line of rectors fol- 
lowed, among whom was the Reverend 
R. D. Nevius, afterward a pioneer in 
the Oregon country. Christ Church 
is still, as the Diocesan News of the 
present day (1918) says: "trying to 
do its duty both to God and man, and 
especially to the great and glorious 
cause of missions." 

In 1832 the Missionary Society sent 
the Reverend Caleb S. Ives to Ala- 
bama. The choice was a most fortu- 
nate one for the young diocese. Mr. 
Ives went about gathering scattered 
Church people and forming new con- 
gregations. He organized the parish 
of Saint Paul's, Greensboro, in 1833 
and later, among others, Trinity parish, 
Demopolis and Saint Andrew's, Prai- 
rieville. 



As its title indicates this article does 
not profess to carry the story of the 
Church in Alabama to the present 
time. The work which Bishop Cobbs 
and Bishop Wilmer began has been 




Interior of Christ Church, Tuscaloosa 

ably carried on by their successors in 
the face of great difficulties. The third 
bishop, the Right Reverend Robert 
W. Barnwell, consecrated July 25, 
1900, lived only two years. The pres- 
ent diocesan, the Right Reverend 
Charles Minnegerode Beckwith, D.D., 
was consecrated December 17, 1902. 
There are now (1918) 114 parishes 
and missions with 9,430 communicants. 



CLASS WORK 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

FOR material on Alabama see The Church 
in Alabama and Richard Hooker Wil- 
mer, Second Bishop of Alabama, by Walter 
C. Whitaker; Bishop Cobbs and His Con- 
temporaries, by Greenough White; Leoni- 
das Polk, Bishop and General, by William 
M. Polk, M.D., LL.D. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Ask the class if they know what the 
principal agricultural product of Alabama 
is. Next to Texas and Georgia it grows the 
most cotton of any state. There is a large 
negro population. Our Church maintains 
Saint Mark's School for negro youth at 
Birmingham. The noted Tuskegee Insti- 
tute is in Alabama. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. The Birth of the Diocese. 

1. When were the first services of our 
Church held? 

2. Tell about Bishop Brownell's journey. 

3. How did he help in forming the dio- 
cese? 

4. How many men took part in organiz- 
ing it? 



5. What bishop took charge after Bishop 
Brownell? 

II. Alabama's First Bishop. 

1. What can you tell about the early life 
of Bishop Cobbs? 

2. How did he enter on his work as a 
bishop? 

3. How is his name connected with cathe- 
drals? 

4. What was the last public function in 
which he took part? 

III. Bishop Wilmer. 

1. Through what great crisis was our 
country passing at the time of Bishop Wil- 
mer's consecration? 

2. Tell something about his family. 

3. What was one of his first episcopal 
acts? 

4. Tell some anecdote of his life. 

IV. Some Early Parishes. 

1. Which is the oldest parish in the dio- 
cese? 

2. Which parish has the oldest church 
building? 

3. What parishes did the Reverend Caleb 
S. Ives found? 

4. Who is the present bishop? 



PUBLISHED BY MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 5 CENTS. 



241 




XXXI. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO INDIANA 



By the Reverend William Burrows* 



L The Frontier 

THE earliest history of Indiana is 
a part of the history of the fur 
traders. With only temporary 
settlements for protection from the 
Indians, who, up to the beginning of 
the nineteenth century, possessed the 
territory now comprised within the 
state, the population was very unstable. 
The year 1800 found very few settlers 
in what is now Indiana. 

The Treaty of Greenville in 1795 
had set aside for the Indians all lands 
within the state except a small tract 
six miles square where Fort Wayne 
now stands ; a tract two miles square 
on the Wabash where the portage path 
from Fort Wayne struck the river ; a 
tract six miles square on the Wabash 
at Quiatonon ; 149,000 acres at the 
Falls of the Ohio, known as Clark's 
Grant ; and the land around Vincennes. 
Almost all the white inhabitants lived 
under the protection of the stockade at 
Vincennes ; what farming was done 
was in the immediate neighborhood of 
that post. 

Clark's Grant had been conveyed in 
1776 to General Clark and his soldiers 
in payment for their services in cap- 
turing Vincennes and Kaskaskia in 
the French and Indian War. There 
were a few settlers here and numerous 
hunters, trappers and squatters along 
the borders of the Indians' land. In 
1800 when territorial government was 
granted to Indiana the census gave a 
population of 6,550, but the land 

*The writer is indebted for much information 
as to the facts of early Church history in Indiana 
to the Reverend Willis D. Engle of Indianapolis. 



within the territory was considerably 
larger in extent than that now within 
the state of Indiana. Of this number 
there were in and around Vincennes 
2,497, including fifty traders and 
twenty-eight Negro slaves. 

The first quarter of the century was 
a period of large increase in popula- 
tion. While the flow of immigration 
into Indiana during this period was in- 
creasing the population sixty-fold, 
while the breaking of old ties and the 
making of new ones in a new environ- 
ment made a tremendous opportunity, 
our Church did nothing toward estab- 
lishing herself in Indiana. It was not 
until 1823 that one of our clergymen 
officiated in Indiana as far as there 
are any records. This was probably 
the Reverend Mr. PfeifTer, who bap- 
tized a child in Indianapolis in that 
year. In 1834 the records of the do- 
mestic committee of the Board of Mis- 
sions show but one resident clergyman, 
probably the Reverend Henry M. 
Shaw at Vincennes. He was evidently 
a man of varied talents, for, seemingly 
more interested in politics than in the 
performance of his priestly duties, he 
was elected a member of the state leg- 
islature. 

Between 1800 and 1835 when 
Bishop Kemper was consecrated for 
his great work in the Middle West 
came the great opportunity for the 
laying of foundations, but during this 
period for some reason or other our 
Church made no effort to gain a foot- 
hold in Indiana. When Indiana was 
admitted as a state in 1817 the popu- 
lation was 63,897. In 1830 the popu- 






How Our Church Came to Our Country 



lation was 344,508. Under the French 
influence in the eighteenth century the 
Roman Church was the first in the 
field and did wonderful work in sin- 
cere attempts to ward off the evil ef- 
fects of drinking and gambling from 
the Indians. The written records of 
the parish church in Vincennes date 
back to 1749. By 1839 under the 
Bishop of Vincennes the whole state 
was well organized in its Roman Cath- 
olic work. By 1832, the Methodists 
had more than 20,000 members with 
five presiding elders' districts and sixty 
preachers. There was scarcely a nook 
or corner of the state not reached by 
the famous circuit riders of this 
church. No other church grew so 
rapidly during the pioneer period. 
Their leaders and preachers were men 
of remarkable ability and have left 
evidence of their power not only in 
the organization of the church but on 
the political and educational institu- 
tions of the state. As early as 1798 
the Baptists began their work and by 
1833 they had twenty-one strong or- 
ganizations or associations that formed 
the Indiana Baptist Convention. 
Every part of the state was reached 
by their ministers. The Presbyterians 
began their work in 1804. The Disci- 
ples Church had its origin in Indiana 
early in the nineteenth century. Thus 
at the time when our Church began 
any real work in Indiana the whole 
state was covered by other Christian 
bodies well established by a quarter of 
a century of real pioneer work. To- 
day the church statistics of Indiana 
indicate by their numbers of members 
and their strength which Christian 
bodies were active during those very 
important first thirty years of the nine- 
teenth century. 

As a result of the failure of our 
Church, from whatever reason, to 
seize the opportunity presented by a 
moving population making new ties of 
all kinds, the work of the Church dur- 
ing the next thirty year period was 
very difficult. When Bishop Joseph 



C. Talbot came as assistant bishop in 
1865, the population of the state was 
about 1,170,000 and the communicants 
of the Church only 1,500. Strong ties 
had been formed in the earliest days 
which were not easily broken and the 
work of our Church started under a 
handicap which has never been over- 
come. This was and is now not merely 
the handicap of small numerical 
strength, but the handicap of ignorance 
of the meaning of the Historic Church 
and utter indifference on the part of 
those who have been won to her 
allegiance. 

//. Laying Foundations 

When Bishop Kemper was conse- 
crated in September, 1835, he said 
there was but one "youthful mission- 
ary" in Indiana, and that not a brick, 
stone or log had been laid toward the 
erection of a place of worship. The 
"youthful missionary" to whom 
Bishop Kemper referred was probably 
the Rev. Melancthon Hoyt, who con- 
tinued in the state until 1838, going 
first back to the East and then as a 
missionary for many years in Wiscon- 
sin and Dakota. Six weeks after 
Bishop Kemper's consecration he 
started toward the field of his future 
labors, passing through Southern In- 
diana on the way. To quote his own 
words : "Accompanied by my ines- 
timable friend and true yoke fellow, 
the Rev. S. R. Johnson, I started from 
Philadelphia on the 3rd of November 
and visited Madison, Lawrenceburg, 
New Albany and Evansville on the 
Ohio, ascended the banks of the Wa- 
bash as far as Terre Haute, and went 
from thence through Illinois to St. 
Louis," where he assumed the duties 
of rector of Christ Church. He fur- 
ther says : "Early in December I went 
by water to Indiana and was detained 
there much longer than I expected in 
consequence of the freezing of the 
Ohio. I visited Evansville, New Al- 
bany, Jeffersonville, Madison, Indi- 
anapolis, Crawfordsville and Rich- 



243 



%>,,'< ■'? 



': 



• •• 



,0 



THE FIRST TRINITY CHURCH, MICHIGAN CITY 
From a pencil sketch contributed by an unknown artist 



mond, and returned from the interior 
of that state through a part of Ohio 
and by the Miami Canal." 

In 1837 Bishop Kemper again vis- 
ited Indiana, having called a convoca- 
tion of the clergy, who then numbered 
seven, at Crawfordsville. During the 
session of the convocation he laid the 
corner stone of Saint John's Church, 
Crawfordsville, "the first Episcopal 
Church in Indiana." Though moved 
to another lot in later years and re- 
cently remodeled into a handsome and 
modern edifice, the "first Episcopal 
Church in Indiana" is still the home 
of a faithful and growing congrega- 
tion. Bishop Kemper devoted the 
whole of the summer of 1837 to Indi- 
ana, visiting many places where now 
are parishes of the Church. The 
bishop says : "Had it not been for a 
call to another diocese, I should have 
been enabled to visit before winter 
every important village and neighbor- 
hood in the state." 

The Reverend Samuel R. Johnson, 
who had accompanied Bishop Kemper 



from Philadelphia, was a man of great 
learning and energy and of independ- 
ent means. He located at Lafayette, 
which Bishop Kemper characterized as 
"a new and thriving place which was 
reputed to be sickly". He remained 
there for many years and upon the 
foundations which he laid is now the 
important parish of Saint John's, La- 
fayette. It is related of him that one 
of his neighbors burglarized his cellar 
and stole a ham. Upon the discovery 
of the theft, he reproached himself 
very greatly for allowing one of his 
neighbors to get into such straits as to 
be compelled to steal the necessities of 
life and immediately sent him a well- 
filled basket, telling the neighbor to 
call upon him if he was ever again in 
need. 

In Indianapolis the first resident 
minister was the Reverend Melancthon 
Hoyt, who came in 1835, remaining 
but for a short time before he went to 
Crawfordsville. The Reverend Jehu 
Clay visited Indianapolis in 1836 and 
officiated for a time, but declined an 



!44 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



invitation to remain. In July, 1837, 
the Reverend James B. Britton took up 
residence in Indianapolis, organizing 
Christ Church immediately. On the 
thirtieth of July, 1837, Bishop Kemper 
administered confirmation to four per- 
sons and celebrated the Holy Com- 
munion for the first time according to 
the forms of the Church on August 
fourth in the Indianapolis Court 
House. The first vestry of Christ 
Church was elected on August 21st, 
1837, and the corner stone of the 
church was laid May 7th, 1838; the 
church was opened for worship, No- 
vember 18th, and consecrated by 
Bishop Kemper December 16th, 1838. 
Concerning the church, Mr. Britton 
wrote January 1st, 1838: 'Tews in 
our contemplated building have been 
sold to the amount of nearly $4,000. 
A beautiful Gothic edifice, 38x54 feet, 
with a handsome tower, is under con- 
tract. My vestry is very active and in- 
terested and the choir is already quite 
creditable. A chant was attempted for 
the first time on Christmas Day. This 
was the first time, I believe, that 
Christmas was ever religiously ob- 
served here." The work flourished 
and four months after the consecra- 
tion of the church building, the Rev. 
Mr. Britton wrote: "The church is 
well attended. After the Methodists 
we have the largest congregation and 
already we have a firm and respectable 
standing as a Christian denomination." 
In the following twenty years the 
parish outgrew its home and the old 
church edifice was removed to make 
place for a new and larger church. In 
1859, the rector at that time, the Rev- 
erend Joseph C. Talbot, afterward 
bishop of the Northwest, and later 
bishop of Indiana, wrote as follows: 
u The most marked event in the history 
of this parish during the past year has 
been the opening of our new church 
edifice. It has been erected at the cost 
of about $20,000, and for architectural 
beauty and strict truthfulness in con- 
struction is not surpassed by any 



church edifice in the West, perhaps by 
few anywhere." 

Probably the first parish organized 
in the state was Saint Paul's, New 
Albany, dating from July nineteenth, 
1834. "This little band, together with 
its few female members, were favored 
with the visits and services, from time 
to time, of several clergymen visiting 
or residing in Louisville." A mission- 
ary, the Reverend Ashbel Steele, was 
sent to them in 1838. The building of 
a church was begun in 1839. 

The Reverend Archibald H. Lamon 
settled as a missionary in Evansville in 
1836 and a church building was begun 
in 1839. Christ Church, Madison, was 
organized in 1835 and the church built 
and consecrated in 1839. The Rev- 
erend Gresham P. Waldo went to 
Richmond in May, 1837, with the ex- 
pectation of remaining there, but his 
health giving out he was succeeded by 
the Reverend George Fiske in the fol- 
lowing July. Saint Paul's Church was 
organized and $3,000 raised to erect 
a church "the plan of which is an exact 
copy of the church in West Chester, 
Pa." 

In 1838 the Domestic and Foreign 
Missionary Society sent the Reverend 
D. V. M. Johnson to a station whicn 
had been opened at Michigan City. 
Here he found "the Reverend Mr. 
Noble, a graduate of the General 
Theological Seminary, whose faithful 
labors have been productive of much 
good." Trinity Church continued to 
grow under Mr. Johnson so that in 
his first letter to the society he writes : 
"The large room which the congrega- 
tion has neatly fitted up is almost full 
of attentive listeners to the preached 
gospel." This large room was in a 
building originally erected for a city 
hall. The congregation adapted it for 
a church and built a bell tower which 
projected into the dooryard of the ad- 
joining dwelling house "for which rent 
was paid and the bell was rung on that 
side." During the next year Mr. John- 
son writes of a visitation made by 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



245 



Bishop Kemper, during which the 
bishop "on three successive Lord's 
days consecrated three churches and 
held confirmation in each." The Sun- 
day evening during the bishop's visit 
to Trinity Church was devoted to the 
cause of missions and the sum of fifty- 
two dollars, "the first collection for 
the cause of Missions in the West in 
our infant church," was sent to the 
missionary society. At the end of two 
years the mission felt itself strong 
enough to relinquish the aid of the 
missionary society and begin its life 
as a self-supporting parish. Mr. John- 
son was also instrumental in founding 
the parish of Saint Paul at Laporte, 
about eighteen miles from Michigan 
City. 

III. Indiana's Bishops 

The preliminary convention for the 
organization of the diocese was held 
at Evansville in June, 1838, and ad- 
journed until August in Madison. 
Nine parishes were reported as organ- 
ized, four of which were represented 
by ten laymen, nine clergymen being 
present. 

In 1841 in Christ Church, Indian- 
apolis, Bishop Kemper was unani- 
mously elected bishop of the new 
diocese. "Bishop Kemper expressed 
his thanks for the confidence and at- 
tachment which the convention re- 
posed in him by their unanimous and 
unexpected vote. . . . Were there 
not," he said, "many and great duties 
connected with the episcopate to which 
the whole Church has called me and 
which were yet unaccomplished, I 
could not decline so sacred and use- 
ful a station." Until the diocese could 
choose another head, he promised to 
make an annual visitation to the par- 
ishes and missions. 

Some idea of the work of the 
bishop and of its hardships can be 
gained from the following: "During 
the next morning I rode fourteen miles 
on horseback, through the rain, to ful- 
fill an appointment which had been 



M 










THE CATHEDRAL AT INDIANAPOLIS 

made for me fourteen miles from 
Evansville on the road to Vincennes." 
And again, "Perhaps it is right for 
me to mention that returning to St. 
Louis where duty called me, I was 
obliged to travel for forty-eight hours 
in succession on the mail bags in an 
open cart." The lot on which Saint 
James's Church, Vincennes, is built 
was the gift of William Henry Harri- 
son, with whom Bishop Kemper 
"walked and talked" on one of his 
frequent missionary visitations. Al- 
though not a native of the state, the 
man who was to be our ninth presi- 
dent was at that time governor of 
Indiana. 

Several attempts were made by the 
diocese to elect a bishop. In 1843 the 
Reverend Thos. Atkinson of the 
diocese of Maryland declined an elec- 
tion. In 1847 the Reverend Wm. 
Bowman was elected and in 1848 the 
Reverend Francis Vinton was elected 




PTSHOP KEMPER 

Bishop of 
Indiana and Missouri 





BISHOP UPFOLD 



BISHOP TALBOT 



but both declined. However, in June, 
1849, the Reverend George Upf old ac- 
cepted. He became rector of Saint 
John's Church, Lafayette, which posi- 
tion he retained until 1854 when he 
resigned this rectorship in order to 
give his full time to the work of the 
diocese. In 1857 Bishop Upfold re- 
moved to Indianapolis and after ten 
years of effort an episcopal residence 
was built. 

On account of the incapacity of 
Bishop Upfold by reason of ill health, 
an assistant bishop, Joseph C. Tal- 
bot, then bishop of the Northwest, was 
chosen in 1864. Bishop Talbot took 
the oversight of Saint Agnes's School 
for Girls in Terre Haute and resided 
therein until the final collapse of the 
school. Before the election of an as- 
sistant bishop, Bishop Upfold had been 
an invalid for years. Right valiantly 
did he fight for the upbuilding of the 
Church, but his hands were tied by 
his physical infirmities and lack of 
funds. 

Bishop Talbot came to a field that 
had not been cultivated and found fal- 
low ground. He was a man of jovial 
nature, a good mixer, not a great but 
a popular preacher, and if he had an 
outstanding gift it was in presenting 
the Historic Church in a way to catch 
and convince. Speaking the truth in 



love he did set forth strongly the apos- 
tolic Church both in faith and ministry. 
The result is seen in the fact that dur- 
ing the first ten years of Bishop Tal- 
bot's episcopate the number of com- 
municants more than doubled, increas- 
ing from 1510 in 1865 to 3200 in 1875. 

Bishop Talbot was succeeded by 
Bishop Knickerbacker in 1883. The 
first ten years of Bishop Knickerback- 
er's episcopate also show a large in- 
crease—from 3,884 to 6,126 in 1892. 
From the coming into Indiana of 
Bishop Talbot in 1865 to the death of 
Bishop Knickerbacker in 1895 the pro- 
portion of communicants to popula- 
tion increased from 1 to 775, to 1 to 
385, the population of the state having 
doubled in that period and the num- 
ber of communicants having quad- 
rupled. 

In 1895 the Rev. John Hazen White 
was elected and consecrated bishop of 
Indiana and in 1899, after the divi- 
sion of the diocese, Bishop White be- 
came bishop of Michigan City and the 
Reverend Joseph Marshall Francis 
was consecrated bishop of Indian- 
apolis. 

IV. The Church at the 

Universities 

The work of the Church in both the 
diocese of Indianapolis and the diocese 



247 




BISHOP KNICKERBACKER 



BiSHOP WHITE 



BISHOP FRANCIS 



of Michigan City is done under the 
handicap of misunderstanding and 
prejudice which was inherited from 
the earliest days. Slowly that preju- 
dice is melting away and slowly the 
Church is coming into her own in 
many communities. 

For the elimination of prejudice and 
making the Church known as she 
really is, in a state where she is weak, 
there is no greater opportunity than 
work among the student bodies of the 
state universities. 

Indiana is noted for its large num- 
ber of educational institutions. There 
are many colleges beside the two divi- 
sions of the state university at Bloom- 
ington and Lafayette. The Church in 
Indiana is thoroughly awake to the 
greatness of the opportunity which is 
presented by the gathering of large 
numbers of young men and women for 
study. At Lafayette, the Purdue Uni- 
versity students are cared for by the 
parish church ; the same is true at 
Wabash College in Crawfordsville and 
at Valparaiso University. 

The most conspicuous effort toward 
student work has been made at the 
Indiana State University at Blooming- 
ton. There in 1909 a beautiful stone 
church was erected near the campus. 
The first contribution toward its cost 
was $5,000 from the Men's Thank 



Offering. Since that time Saint Mar- 
garet's Hall for girl students in the 
university has been the center of the 
Church's work. A vicarage has also 
been built. With this excellent equip- 
ment, the Church has been able to 
exert an influence on the student body 
which has spread to the four corners 
of the state. 

Somehow the Church has not yet 
fully learned how to appeal to the 
"Hoosier". There are few large par- 
ishes and very many weak missions. 
Concerning the work carried on under 
the direction of the diocesan Board of 
Missions, Bishop Francis said, in his 
annual address in 1915, the following 
about the results achieved in the 
congregations which are technically 
classed as missionary and which are 
aided by missionary funds : "No one, 
unless he be actively engaged in it, can 
know the difficulties under which the 
mission work of the diocese is prose- 
cuted. The distance between mission 
points is great ; the cost of travel high. 
For example, the archdeacon's weekly 
itinerary covers about 400 miles; an- 
other of the mission clergy travels 180 
miles to and from one station, and 
ninety to another. There are few 
places so situated as to be strategic 
centers of work. In the smaller com- 



248 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



munities the ebb and flow of the popu- 
lation renders the condition of the 
congregations precarious at all times. 
One year may show a relatively large 
increase and the next a serious de- 
crease in numbers. In a measure the 
churches in the larger places suffer 
from the same cause, but in them the 
additions and removals are more 
nearly equalized. In spite of difficul- 
ties, however, a careful analysis of the 
reports published in the diocesan jour- 
nal shows a substantial gain in our 
mission congregations. The result of 
such an analysis made recently gives 
an increase of 51 per cent, in the num- 
ber of communicants in the organized 
missions now on our list between 1905 
and 1915. A few concrete examples 
will be interesting. During the decade, 
in Trinity Church, Anderson, the com- 
municants have increased from 75 to 
106; in Saint John's, Bedford, from 



19 to 154; in Trinity Church, Bloom- 
ington, from 31 to 101; in Saint 
George's, Indianapolis, from 58 to 
121 ; in Trinity Church, Lawrence- 
burg, from 26 to 65. These are con- 
spicuous increases — conspicuous not i| 
because of the large numbers involved, 
but of the ratio of increase, which is 
far in excess of that of the parishes of 
the diocese With more men and 
more resources, excellent results could 
be achieved in many places Without 
increased resources, our clerical staff 
cannot be enlarged and the field of 
operations cannot be extended." 

Not only in Indiana, but in all the 
states of the Middle West, though the 
work is most difficult, the Church is 
building surely though slowly. Her 
influence in every community where 
she is represented is far beyond her 
numerical strength, for she is sacrific- 
ing in order unselfishly to serve. 



CLASS WORK 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

THE CROSSING, by Winston Church- 
ill, gives a vivid account of the peril- 
ous journey made by General Clark 
and his soldiers to capture Vincennes. As 
showing conditions in Indiana at a little 
later period, there is nothing better than 
Edward Eggleston's Hoosier Schoolmaster 
and the less well-known Hoosier School- 
boy. Greenough White's An Apostle of the 
Western Church contains extracts from 
Bishop Kemper's letters about his travels 
in Indiana. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Ask the class if they know the popular 
name of Indiana. Who was the "Hoosier 
poet"? Tell them that James Whitcomb 
Riley wrote some of his best known poems 
while travelling about the state as an itiner- 
ant sign painter. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 

I. The Frontier. 

1. Who were the first settlers in Indiana? 

2. What churches were first in the field? 

3. Tell about the circuit riders. 

_ 4. What other Christian bodies were ac- 
tive in religious work? 



II. Laying Foundations. 

1. What great bishop was the first to 
have charge of Indiana? 

2. Tell an anecdote about his travelling 
companion. 

3. Who was our first resident minister in 
Indianapolis, and where did he afterwards 
do famous pioneer work? 

4. Which was the. first Episcopal church 
in Indiana? 

5. How was Trinity Church, Michigan 
City, begun? 

III. Indiana's Bishops. 

1. How many attempts were made to pro- 
cure a bishop, and who finally became In- 
diana's first bishop? 

2. Who came to help Bishop Upfold? 

3. Tell about the growth of the diocese 
under Bishops Talbot and Knickerbacker. 

4. When was the diocese divided and 
who are now the bishops of Indianapolis 
and Michigan City? 

IV. The Church at the Universities. 

1. For what is Indiana noted? 

2. Where are her universities situated? 

3. What work has our Church in univer- 
sity towns in the state? 

4. What church was begun by means of 
the Men's Thank Offering? 



PUBLISHED BY MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 5 CENTS. 



249 



?|oto 0m Cfjurtfj Came to 0wc Country 



XXXII. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO 
COLORADO 



By the Reverend Benjamin IV. Bonell 



L The Far, Wild West 

THE first services of the Church 
were held in Colorado when 
what is now the diocese of Colo- 
rado was a part of the missionary juris- 
diction of the Northwest. When this 
great territory was first set apart by 
the General Convention the Reverend 
Jacob L. Clark, D.D., of Watertown, 
Connecticut was elected as missionary 
bishop. Dr. Clark declined and the 
Reverend Joseph Cruikshank Talbot, 
D.D., was elected in 1859 and con- 
secrated bishop February 15, 1860. 
This same year the first service of 
the Church was held by the Reverend 
John H. Kehler twelve days after his 
arrival in the city of the Plains. He 
came from Virginia where he had been 
the rector of Sheppardstown. Filled 
with a true missionary spirit he came 
West to break the ground and planL 
the first seed of the Apostolic faith in 
the Church he so dearly loved. The 
first service was held in a little log 
cabin on Market Street in what is now 
the wholesale section of Denver. He 
soon won the respect of the good peo- 
ple of the community and was affec- 
tionately called "Father Kehler" by all 
in the frontier town. 

In 1861 Bishop Talbot made his 
first visit to the far, wild West and was 
gratified to find an enthusiastic con- 
gregation maintaining regular services 
in a rented building. The mission had 
a name indicative of its surround- 
ings — Saint John's-in-the-Wilderness. 



Since then the wilderness has given 
place to a beautiful city, and the little 
mission, grown to a great parish, is 
now Saint John's Cathedral. Father 
Kehler remained in charge of the mis- 
sion until the latter part of 1861, when 
he was appointed chaplain of the First 
Regiment of Colorado Volunteers. 

Having lost its leader the little band 
became somewhat discouraged. Just 
in the nick of time Bishop Talbot 
visited the West again and by his earn- 
est endeavors revived the waning cour- 
age of the mission. The chapel of the 
Southern Methodists, the only house of 
worship in the village, with not enough 
members to keep the doors open, was 
bought and made over to adapt it to 
the services of the Church. The total 
cost was $2,500. The Reverend Isaac 
Hagar, a deacon, was placed in tem- 
porary charge. The following year 
the Reverend H. B. Hitchings was 
called as rector and the work placed 
on a permanent foundation. 

The second congregation in Colo- 
rado was formed in the mountains in 
1860. The first service here was also 
held by Father Kehler. An interest- 
ing account of this has been given by 
Mrs. Anna Talbot, who said: "I ar- 
rived in Denver, October 18, 1859. In 
June of 1860 we moved to the Gregory 
District up in the hills. There was 
no Central City then and no Black- 
hawk. Midway between these two 
towns, which are only three miles 
apart, nestled on the mountain side a 
little camp called Mountain City. To 




BISHOP TALBOT 



BISHOP RANDALL 



BISHOP SPALDING 



this camp Father Kehler drove up 
from Denver, about forty miles, in the 
summer of 1860 and held a service in 
a log cabin. In the Fall silver was 
discovered a little higher up the moun- 
tain and houses were built about. The 
new town was called 'Central City' 
— it was not long before it became a 
thriving camp. In 1862 Bishop Tal- 
bot came up by stage coach. It was 
a great occasion." The bishop made a 
canvass for Church people and was so 
encouraged by the number he found 
that he organized a mission and asked 
Mrs. Talbot to name it, and Saint 
Paul's became a reality. In 1863 the 
Reverend and Mrs. Francis Granger 
arrived. A store building was bought 
and converted into a little chapel. The 
lower part of the building, which was 
on the mountain side, was fitted up 
for a school, Mrs. Granger taking 
charge. The present warden of Saint 
Paul's, Mr. Bennett Seymour, was one 
of the pupils. 

Before the coming of the Reverend 
Francis Granger occasional services 
had been held by the Reverend Isaac 
Hagar and Dr. Hitchings. From the 
parish record we learn that Bishop 
Talbot visited Philadelphia and 
preached a stirring missionary sermon 
in Saint Mark's. He called for volun- 
teers. The Reverend A. B. Jennings, 



then a deacon, offered himself and was 
sent to Central City. Later the bishop 
sent for him. Mr. Jennings met the 
bishop at Nebraska City and was or- 
dained priest. On account of an Indian 
uprising the journey was made under 
an escort of United States cavalry. 
After his ordination Mr. Jennings re- 
turned to Central City to the then 
largest parish in. the Far West. 

Bishop Talbot was elected assistant 
bishop of Indiana in 1865. In the 
West he was succeeded by the Right 
Reverend George M. Randall, who was 
consecrated December 28, 1865. At 
this time there were only two clergy- 
men in Colorado, the Reverend H. B. 
Hitchings and the Reverend A. B. 
Jennings. Bishop Randall soon estab- 
lished missions and brought men to fill 
them, the Reverend W. A. Fuller, and 
Father Byrne, who was indeed a 
father to many missions in the moun- 
tains and on the plains. The Rever- 
end Cortlandt Whitehead, later Bishop 
of Pittsburgh, was one of the early 
missionaries and was stationed at 
Black Hawk, where now we have no 
church. In 1867 a church was built 
at Georgetown. It was wrecked in a 
hurricane in 1869. In 1870 Bishop 
Whitehead shook the dust of Black 
Hawk from his feet and, taking his 
worldly goods, including an altar, lee- 



istyj, • i 



9m x :m : M 




CENTRAL CITY, COLORADO 
Saint Paul's Church may be seen near the center of the picture 






tern, a cross and candlesticks, went 
to Georgetown — built the present 
Grace Church and installed a one- 
manual pipe organ. 



II. Colorado- 



-Part of a Vast 
Field 



In 1865 the General Convention set 
apart a new missionary jurisdiction 
consisting of the territories of Colo- 
rado, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. 
This was Bishop Randall's field and 
he covered it. His letters are full of 
interest and show an undaunted and 
cheerful spirit. We hear of his 
preaching to a large congregation in 
a grocery store, with not enough can- 
dles to enable him to see all the con- 
gregation, making responses impos- 
sible. But, there was light enough to 
read the text and, to use his own 
words, "I did not need any more of 
that kind. Sunset, the following day, 
found us in front of a cattle ranch 
where the people could give us food 
but not lodging, so we slept in the 
wagon and our sleep would have been 



very sweet but for the bellowing of 
cattle, the cackling of geese, the bark- 
ing of dogs and the shrill voice of an 
old lady who, with her friends, was 
camping a few yards off." 

After Bishop Randall's second trip 
to the field he wrote that they "had 
safely run the gauntlet for three hun- 
dred miles through a country inhabited 
by hostile Indians." Scarcely had the 
bishop reached his journey's end when 
several stages were attacked and the 
passengers killed. One of our mis- 
sionaries, the Reverend W. A. Fuller, 
had a miraculous escape. He was the 
only passenger, the driver and a man 
who was riding on horseback in com- 
pany with them being killed. Later 
in the year the bishop writes that "no 
one need now be afraid to cross the 
plains for the Indians have done up 
their summer's work of scalping. 
These savages don't work in the 
winter." 

For eight years Bishop Randall 
travelled unweariedly over his im- 
mense field, "coupling the wisdom of 
ripe experience with the ardor of 




BISHOP OLMSTED 



youth." Under him great progress 
was made. In 1870 the bishop ob- 
tained from the territorial legislature 
a grant of nearly $4,000 for a School 
of Mines and began the excellent 
school which later he was obliged to 
turn over to the State, and which is 
now one of the leading schools of 
mines in the United States. In 1871 
Mr. Nathan Matthews of Boston gave 
$1,000 for a divinity school. Matthews 
Hall was opened September 19, 1872, 
under the supervision of the Reverend 
W. R. Harding. Parish schools were 
opened in the larger towns and later 
the first institutions for higher edu- 
cation were founded by the bishop; 
Jarvis Hall for boys and men, Wolfe 
Hall for girls. Again misfortune, in 
the garb of wind, blew off the roof 
of Jarvis Hall and the walls fell in a 
mass. But Bishop Randall's un- 
daunted spirit could not be crushed. 
He rebuilt. 

Not until shortly before his death 
did he betray any sign of the strain 
under which he was administering his 
great field. In his last communica- 
tion to The Spirit of Missions 
he asks a question which has been 
echoed by many succeeding missionary 
bishops : "How can we 'make brick 
without straw'? Do not tell us in 
effect to 'gather stubble instead of 



straw'. We want bread and we need 
tools, and they who love the Lord 
and His cause will, I trust, be glad to 
supply both." 

Bishop Randall died in 1873 and 
was succeeded by the Right Reverend 
John F. Spalding, a man of clear vi- 
sion, who bought property and estab- 
lished missions throughout his vast 
jurisdiction. He drove from place to 
place and made visitations on horse- 
back and by stage, often walking long 
distances when the floods had washed 
away bridges. The Church in South- 
ern Colorado grew largely through the 
visitations to lonely ranches and farms 
of the bishop and his few helpers. In 
1876 in the whole of Colorado and 
Wyoming there were only fifteen mis- 
sionaries. Of necessity much of their 
time was spent in travelling on foot or 
on horseback, by stage or in a friendly 
buggy or an open wagon, in which on 
one occasion Bishop Spalding travelled 
for two days at an altitude of two 
miles, encountering two storms of 
wind and snow, rain and sleet, "an 
exposure," he says, "which had no 
serious consequences but was by no 
means pleasant!" Fortunately there 
were bright days as well as stormy 
ones. I have been told of jolly 
parties — Church parties — when the 
bishop sat on the seat of a lumber 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



253 



wagon with the driver, a little organ 
borrowed for the occasion, and then 
driving from house to house, the con- 
gregation was gathered — happy, zeal- 
ous workers were our pioneers. 

///. The Diocese of Colorado 

In 1885 the missionary jurisdiction 
of Colorado was organized into a 
diocese and admitted as such at the 
General Convention in 1886. Bishop 
Spalding died in 1902 and the Right 
Reverend Charles S. Olmsted was 
elected to succeed him. Bishop Olm- 
sted, a man of marked learning, toiled 
on until ill health compelled him to 
leave the altitude of Colorado and live 
at sea level. Unable longer to visit 
the towns seven to nine thousand feet 
above sea level Bishop Olmsted called 
for a coadjutor and the Reverend Irv- 
ing P. Johnson, D.D., of Seabury 
Divinity School, was elected. A man 
of indomitable energy and great mis- 
sionary spirit he is meeting the knotty 
problems of a hard western field. 

Colorado has suffered much and of- 
ten financially. Many vicissitudes 
have checked its onward course. Jar- 
vis Hall burned, Wolfe Hall closed 
and Matthews Hall lost, neverthe- 
less, the work has gone on and a great 
future is before the diocese. There 
are some diocesan institutions stand- 
ing for uplift and succor to humanity. 
The Oakes Home, founded by the Rev- 
erend F. W. Oakes, has done a mar- 
velous work. Saint Luke's Hospital 
stands in the forefront in Colorado — 
always full to overflowing. The 
Church Convalescent Home for home- 
less women is one of the recent fac- 
tors established by the Church in Den- 
ver to alleviate the suffering of the 
needy. The Sisterhood of Saint John 
the Evangelist, founded by Bishop 
Olmsted, is quietly doing good by its 
many acts of mercy, and the Divinity 
School, reopened at Greeley, is pre- 
paring men for missionary work. Colo- 
rado will soon take its place as one of 



the great dioceses of the Church — a 
diocese in name, a vast missionary 
field in reality, with the door of op- 
portunity opened wide for the service 
of God and His Holy Church. 

IV. The Missionary District of 
Western Colorado 

At the General Convention in Balti- 
more, October, 1892, the diocese of 
Colorado presented a memorial, pray- 
ing that it be allowed to cede the west- 
ern portion of the state as a missionary 
district. On the thirteenth of October 
the missionary district of Western 
Colorado was constituted by the con- 
current action of both Houses. By this 
act an area of 38,000 square miles was 
set aside, a difficult field dotted with 
little villages, mining towns and a few 
agricultural centers. Western Colo- 
rado had been faithfully cared for by 
Bishop Spalding and a few earnest 
priests. On October twenty-first the 
Reverend William Morris Barker of 
Duluth, Minnesota, was elected as first 
missionary bishop of this hard field. 




BISHOP KNIGHT 



f M 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



In October, 1894, he was transferred 
to the missionary district of Olympia. 

In 1895 the General Convention, 
meeting at Minneapolis, placed the dis- 
trict under the care of Bishop Abiel 
Leonard of Salt Lake. Bishop Leon- 
ard travelled far and wide preaching 
in little camps, and as a result the 
Church began to show signs of life 
in the disheartened field. 

It was during Bishop Leonard's 
time that the writer, coming to Colo- 
rado, was invited to spend a vacation 
at a mining camp, Lake City. While 
there he met the good bishop and 
learned something of his endeavors to 
strengthen the Church in Western 
Colorado. The first Sunday of the 
month the writer held services in the 
little chapel which, excepting the oc- 
casional visit from Bishop Leonard, 
had been closed for several years. 

Sunday was a threatening day. 
Clouds hung low and large drops of 
rain warned people to stay at home. 
However, about twenty-five ventured 
out. Had they not made great prepa- 
rations ? — aired and cleaned the church 
and had choir practice. The faithful 
few were there — one family from 
Litchfield, England, who lived several 
miles out of town drove in. The serv- 
ice began. No one present could play 
the chants so I was organist as well 
as minister — and how they sang! A 
very hearty service we were having, 
but the day grew darker and peal after 
peal of thunder rent the air and a tor- 
rent of rain came down and through 
the old roof. Well do I remember 
the day ! The service went on, and 
during the sermon I stood between two 
leaks. The congregation raised um- 
brellas. The storm and the service 
ended about the same time. Then we 
had an after meeting and decided to 
shingle the church. I spent the week 
on the job and the next Sunday we 
held service under a rain-proof roof. 
Little Saint James's has an interesting 
history. It was built for a black- 
smith shop and in the course of years 
evolved into a neat little chape 1 . 




BISHOP TOURET 

Under Bishop Leonard the work 
had grown, and at his death in 1903 
it came under the care of his succes- 
sor, Bishop Franklin S. Spalding, 
whose tragic death a few years ago 
was an irreparable blow to the Church. 
At once Bishop Spalding with char- 
acteristic vigor began a systematic 
visitation of every parish and mission 
in the district, travelling 13,935 miles 
by rail and 1,159 miles by stage and 
wagon. The development of irrigation 
had given a great impetus to growth 
in the farming districts. Several new 
missions were opened and services re- 
sumed at many places where they had 
been abandoned. It was Bishop Spald- 
ing's representation of the importance 
and scope of the work that led the 
General Convention of 1907 to revive 
Western Colorado as a separate mis- 
sionary district. 

The same convention which revived 
the missionary district elected the 
Reverend Edward Jennings Knight, of 
blessed memory, as the third mission- 
ary bishop. Bishop Knight was a born 



255 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



missionary. Ardent and zealous he 
entered the field and worked with a 
will. Nearly all the towns of West- 
ern Colorado where our Church had 
reached were on the railroad that 
circles the central part of the district. 
To these towns the good bishop went 
— preaching to a handful. No con- 
gregation was too small for him. His 
large heart went out to the lonely 
members of his flock scattered here 
and there. His life was a constant 
•round of labors. After doing the 
towns on the railroad he started to 
visit the outlying places by wagon, 
often sleeping on the ground under 
the wagon. Wherever two or three 
Church people were to be found, this 
missionary bishop went with never. a 
complaint or a murmur, for he said 
the sheep from the hills often become 
the supporters of the city parishes. 
His was an example of the ideal Pastor 
and Chief Shepherd. No wonder that 
the people of Western Colorado loved 
him — no wonder that the Church 
picked up by leaps and bounds. In 
less than a year this godly man was 



summoned by the Angel of Death, but 
his example, his missionary spirit, 
lives on. 

Bishop Knight was succeeded by 
Bishop Benjamin Brewster, who, after 
faithful work, was elected to the 
bishopric of Maine. Constant change 
seems to be the order in this great 
field. At Saint Louis the Reverend 
Frank Hale Touret was elected to fill 
the vacancy made by the translation 
of Bishop Brewster. Recently he has 
been given the added care of Utah. 

The missionary district of Western 
Colorado has a population of 115,000, 
scattered over 38,000 square miles. 
There is only one institution of higher 
education in the field, the state nor- 
mal school at Gunnison. Western 
Colorado is clearly a field for untiring 
efforts, where the Church must min- 
ister to her scattered people. Her bands 
of faithful clergymen must be willing 
to be found in travels often — in hard- 
ships often — in trials often — in halls 
and school-houses often — working al- 
ways not for money or fame, but for 
the glory of God and the good of men. 



CLASS WORK 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

THERE is no better description of 
the conditions under which our hardy 
pioneers both of Church and State 
pushed their way across the continent than 
that found in Chapter V of Burleson's 
Conquest of the Continent, "The Battle 
Among the Mountains". 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Five minutes is all too short in which 
to tell the class something of the great 
Rocky Mountain region — the backbone of 
our country — in which the scene of this 
story is laid. Any public library will sup- 
ply books on this subject. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. The Far, Wild West 

1. Of what great missionary field was 
Colorado at first a part? 



2. What bishop had charge of it? 

3. Where were the first Church services 
held? 

II. Colorado— Part of a Vast Field 

1. To what other great missionary juris- 
diction did Colorado belong in 1865? 

2. Tell about some of Bishop Randall's 
journeys. 

3. Who was his successor? 



III. The Diocese of Colorado 

1. When did Colorado become a diocese? 

2. Name its bishops. 

IV. The Missionary District of Western 

Colorado 

1. When was this district set off? 

2. Who were the first three bishops? 

3. Who is the present bishop? 



5< 




PUBLISHED BY MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 5 CENTS. 



257 




XXXIII. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO 

KENTUCKY 

By Bishop Woodcock 



I. Prior to 1829 

THE beginnings of things often 
may seem small, their impor- 
tance lies not in comparison 
with other events but in the motive of 
the given purpose itself. Compared 
with other historical epochs, the first 
efforts to establish the Church in 
Kentucky may seem to be a day of 
small things ; so, indeed, it was. The 
point, however, was to make a begin- 
ning, for without that the prospect 
would be nothing. Small things may 
contain all the possibility of great re- 
sults. For instance, one can "count 
all the grains in a bushel of wheat, but 
he cannot count all the bushels in a 
grain of wheat." 

Though it was a day of small 
things, it was a venture of faith. The 
beginning had been too long postponed 
and many priceless years had elapsed 
unused, costing the loss of many splen- 
did opportunities. The only way to 
begin was to begin. "All epochs have 
their beginning in the men who come 
to the surface with a great purpose." 
After many years of delay the right 
men at last appeared and the great 
purpose was an epoch in the annals of 
Kentucky. 

Of the early days we possess very 
meager records, so scanty, in fact, that 
one is unable to trace the early efforts 
to keep the Church alive. Originally 
Kentucky was part of Fincastle 
County, Virginia, an untracked wil- 
derness, teeming with game and 
known only to the Indians, who 
sought this hunting paradise. Of the 



early ventures into these unmapped 
wilds we have only the briefest rec- 
ords. Later exploring parties visited 
this new country — the far Southwest 
of those days. In 1765 and again in 
1767 a small area of the eastern por- 
tion of the state was explored. It 
was not until 1774, however, that any' 
real attempts were made to extend the 
frontier. In that year James Harrod 
made the first permanent settlement, 
which was named in his honor 
"Harrodsburg". This struggle to 
maintain themselves against the fre- 
quent attacks of the Indians is a long 
and heroic story. The following year 
the best known pioneer, Daniel Boone, 
planted a colony which could have no 
better name than that by which it is 
known, "Boonsborough". Here again 
the experience of the first settlement 
was repeated in ceaseless conflict with 
the Indians, who disputed the en- 
croachment upon their hunting 
grounds, and, during the Revolution, 
fought on the side of the British. 

Owing to the favorable Land Policy 
of Virginia immigration was attracted 
to Kentucky, but, because of the long 
and devastating Indian warfare which 
followed, the settlement and develop- 
ment of the state was retarded. 

Among the immigrants who sought 
new homes in these fertile wilds were 
many, if not a majority of them, 
Churchmen, nurtured in the Faith in 
Virginia. While thousands of mem- 
bers of our Church first settled in this 
new country most unfortunately no 
clergy of the Church seemed to have 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



accompanied them. They were left, 
so far as the Church was concerned, 
to perish like sheep in the wilderness. 
What would it not have meant to the 
future of the Church in Kentucky had 
there been, in those days, an organi- 
zation like the Board of Missions to 
send missionaries to these, almost 
exiles, perishing for want of the Word 
and of the Sacraments. But with our 
missionary society then in London, 
and America at war with England, 
with the supply of clergy woefully in- 
adequate, and with the missionary 
spirit at the lowest ebb, what other 
outcome could follow but this : a 
whole people alienated from the 
Church of their Fathers, a great field 
lost which never can be rewon, and 
two dioceses, now in the state, of only 
one-third the strength and power they 
might have been. The lesson in Ken- 
tucky was not learned by the Church 
in the case of other states in time 
to avert the same misfortune. One 
who says that he does not believe in 
missions says, at the same time, that 
he does not believe in Jesus Christ and 
His Church. From such deplorable 
mishaps in these days the splendid 
service and assistance of the Board of 
Missions is now saving the Church, 
but it can do only what we of the 
Church give the means to do. The 
Board of Missions represents us, and 
is simply ourselves at work to extend 
the Kingdom of God. 

It will be seen what pitiful delay 
occurred when it is noted that, while 
Kentucky was admitted into the Union 
as a state in 1792, it was not until 
1829 that the diocese was organized. 

In the meantime a new generation 
had sprung up, utterly separated from 
the Church of their forefathers. 
Meanwhile the people were taught by 
illiterate men, but the Church did not 
exist for the people who of a right 
belong to Her. In these long, disap- 
pointing years, with only twelve cler- 
gymen in all that time, some of whom 
gave up their work and some who 



lived only to serve for one year, there 
is mentioned one, the Reverend Mr. 
Lythe, who, at that time, was the "first 
Minister of any kind or name to offer 
up the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanks- 
giving to the Living God in Ken- 
tucky". These are sad days in the 
things which the Church let slip for 
the lack of missionary help, of- fore- 
sight, oversight, and the presence of 
missionaries themselves. We will find 
no fault, for these were days of little 
strength, a feeble folk, and a Church 
without bishops. Had we lived then, 
we, perhaps, had not done so well. 

//. The Formation of the 
Diocese 

Many years elapsed before any defi- 
nite steps were taken for organization. 
The labors of a few clergymen kept 
the Church from dying out. Thirty- 
four years after the first settlement 
the first parish was established, 
namely, Christ Church, Lexington, 
organized in 1809. The first conven- 
tion of the Church held in Kentucky 
met in Christ Church, Lexington, in 
1829. There were in attendance two 
priests, one deacon, and nine laymen, 
representing Lexington, Danville and 
Louisville. To the Reverend Dr. 
Chapman belongs the honor of or- 
ganizing the diocese. He was at that 
time the only rector in Kentucky. 
The convention elected Dr. Chapman 
chairman, and the Reverend B. O. 
Peers, secretary, The Church was 
most fortunate in having two such able 
and devoted men. Dr. Chapman is 
spoken of as a man of "zeal, power, 
and learning". His writings did much 
to spread a knowledge of the Church. 
Of Mr. Peers it is said that he gave 
freely of his "time, labor, and 
money", and that he was "the father 
of common school education in the 
state". Among the laymen attending 
the convention were men of note, for 
Kentucky owes much to her devoted 
laymen who always have given of 



25! 




LOOKING WEST ON MAIN STREET, LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY 
Christ Church, Lexington, was the iirst parish in the state 



their time and service to further the 
welfare of the Church. 

During" a meeting of the primary 
convention, Dr. Chapman learning 
that Bishop Ravenscroft was in 
Nashville, ah invitation was extended 
to him to visit Kentucky. He accepted 
and came to Lexington, where he con- 
firmed a class of ninety-one persons. 
Later in the year Bishop Brbwnell of 
Connecticut visited the diocese. He 
aroused much interest and gave large 
encouragement to the small but faith- 
ful body of Churchmen who were 
giving such good account of them- 
selves. The official acts of Bishop 
Brownell were the consecration of 
Christ Church, Louisville, the baptism 
of four adults and eleven infants ; the 
confirmation of thirty-one candidates. 
It is said of this memorable visit that 
the Bishop of Connecticut stirred up 
new life in the feeble beginnings of a 
struggling diocese. From that time 
the Church made a new start and de- 
spite the difficulties and limitations, 
decided progress was made. 



Of the early statistics of tke Church 
we have only imperfect records; the 
first which are available are given in 
the Journal of the Second Conven- 
tion, 1830. The population of the 
state at that time was 687,917; num- 
ber of parishes 3 ; clergy 4 ; baptisms, 
infants 32, adults 6; marriages 3; 
burials 10. At this convention an in- 
vitation was sent to Bishop Meade, 
assistant bishop of Virginia, to make a 
visitation. He accepted, giving much 
time to the diocese and extending his 
visitation over the state. During his 
visit Bishop Meade consecrated Trin- 
ity Church, Danville, ordained the 
Reverend Messrs. Ash and Giddings 
to the priesthood in Christ Church, 
Louisville, the first ordination in the 
diocese; and held two confirmations, 
when fifty-four received the Laying 
on of Hands. 

No diocese, however, could hope to 
develop while dependent upon occa- 
sional visitation. Small as the diocese 
then was it was sorely in need of lead- 
ership and oversight. With this in 




BISHOP RAVENSCROFT 



BISHOP MEADE 



BISHOP BROWNELL 



view steps were taken to secure a 
bishop, and at the third annual con- 
vention, held in 1831, the Reverend 
Benjamin Bosworth Smith, rector of 
Christ Church, Lexington, was chosen 
bishop. Owing to some informality in 
the election he declined. The follow- 
ing year at the convention held in 
Hopkinsville, June 11, 1832, he was 
again elected. He accepted and was 
consecrated in Saint Paul's Chapel, 
New York, October 31, 1832, by 
Bishop White of Pennsylvania ; Bishop 
Brownell, of Connecticut; and Bishop 
Onderdonk, assistant bishop of Penn- 
sylvania. 

This step was a courageous venture 
of Faith, even a larger venture on the 
part of the bishop than on that of the 
diocese. There was no provision for 
his salary, it is recorded, "For more 
than twenty years the offerings of the 
diocese did not exceed the bishop's 
traveling expenses to and from the 
General Convention". The bishop's 
support came chiefly from the earn- 
ings of his family derived from teach- 
ing school. The Church was feeble 
and poor. The Board of Missions, as 
we now know it, did not exist, but the 
spirit of sacrifice and service were rich 
in bishop and people. When Bishop 
Smith came to Kentucky "not a par- 
ish had a set of communion vessels 



and but one had either bell or organ". 
It was a beginning and, though feeble, 
the Church began to grow. The first 
candidates for Holy Orders were 
Thos. A. Quinlan, L. H. Van Doran, 
and E. H. Deacon. In 1833 the first 
priest was ordained by a bishop of the 
diocese, i.e., the Reverend S. S. Lewis, 
and the first deacon, the Reverend 
Erastus Burr. 

In 1834 a great calamity befell the 
diocese in the outbreak of cholera in 
Lexington. This scourge grievously 
afflicted the struggling Church. It is 
reported that "Two Presbyters, three 
Candidates for Holy Orders, and fifty 
Communicants — one-fourth of its 
whole strength — had been carried 
away". During these sad days Bishop 
Smith bore himself with great cour- 
age, refusing to desert his flock. Not 
only did the Church suffer heavily 
from the cholera, but during the same 
year it lost many of its people, who 
immigrated to Illinois and Missouri. 

In the meantime a theological semi- 
nary had been established in 1834. 
From this institution twenty-five 
clergy were added to the ranks of the 
ministry. After many vicissitudes it 
was found necessary to give up the 
seminary. In 1836, Shelby College 
was started, which, after varying for- 
tunes and discouragements was dis- 




continued in 1870. Notwithstanding 
the limitations and difficulties, encour- 
aging progress was made. During the 
first thirty years of Bishop Smith's 
episcopate there were 7,470 baptisms, 
3,402 confirmations, and the communi- 
cants numbered 1,821. 

777. Bishop Dudley 

Bishop Smith had now reached the 
age of seventy and the thirtieth of his 
episcopate. The diocese decided to 
give him an assistant. At the conven- 
tion held in 1866, the Reverend George 
David Cummins, D.D., was elected as- 
sistant bishop. He was consecrated in 
Christ Church, Louisville, November 
16, 1866. He served but a short time, 
resigning in 1873, leaving the Church 
because of disagreement with her doc- 
trines, and started a new religious 
body called the "Reformed Episcopal 
Church". He was deposed in 1874 
and died in 1876. No trace now re- 
mains in the state of the religious sect 
which he founded. 

Bishop Smith remained in the dio- 
cese until 1872, when, because of old 
age and infirmities, he resided, by per- 
mission, outside the state. In 1874 
the Reverend Thomas Underwood 
Dudley, D.D., was chosen as assistant 
bishop. To him fell the whole care 



BISHOP BURTON 



of the diocese. Upon the death of 
Bishop Smith in 1884, after an episco- 
pate of fifty-two years, Bishop Dud- 
ley succeeded to the bishopric. In a 
memorial to Bishop Smith this tribute 
was paid to him, "The Church in Ken- 
tucky thanks God for the good exam- 
ple of this, His servant sent down to 
them, in the unbroken Apostolic line, 
out of the 'Upper Chamber' of Jeru- 
salem, to 'Lay on Hands,' after the 
manner of the Holy Apostle that the 
people may receive the Holy Ghost, 
and to bless the people in his name". 

Bishop Dudley, only thirty-seven 
when consecrated, brought the ardor 
of young manhood to his new field 
and devoted himself, with great energy 
to his task. A preacher of rare abil- 
ity, a true lover of mankind, he won 
and deserved the affection and confi- 
dence of his people, to whom he en- 
deared himself by many ties in his 
busy and fruitful episcopate of twen- 
ty-nine years. Under his leadership 
many charitable and benevolent insti- 
tutions were established. No diocese 
of its size has more benevolent institu- 
tions than Kentucky. 

The diocese prospered and contin- 
ued to grow, but the large area, forty 
thousand square miles, so inaccessible 
in many parts, became too great a task 
for one man. With this in view it 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




BISHOP DUDLEY 



was decided in 1895 to divide the state 
into two dioceses, Kentucky and Lex- 
ington, the diocese of Kentucky 
comprising the western half of the 
state and the diocese of Lexington the 
eastern. Bishop Dudley elected to re- 
main in Kentucky. The Reverend 
Louis W. Burton, D.D., rector of 
Saint Andrew's, Louisville, was 
chosen as bishop of Lexington and 
was consecrated January 30, 1896, 
Bishop Dudley being the consecrator 
assisted by six other bishops. 

Bishop Dudley took deep interest in 
the work for the Negroes. While so 
much of the work among the whites 
was missionary work, and some of it 
with little prospect of growth in the 
future, moreover, with slender means 
to carry it on, the bishop succeeded 
in establishing three colored missions. 
These have, each of them, a church 
and rectory, and one has a parish 
house. One of these missions has 
since become a self-supporting parish. 

From the nature of the work it will 
be a long time before the Church is 
established in many places. The pop- 



ulation is largely an agricultural peo- 
ple and most of the towns are small 
where other religious bodies have long 
preceded our own Church. 

The diocese moved forward and the 
growth, while not large, steadily in- 
creased. Bishop Dudley died January 
22, 1904, after a busy episcopate of 
twenty-nine years. He found a dis- 
turbed diocese, owing to the defection 
of one of its leaders, and left a united 
people, who deeply mourned him. 
During these long years he gave the 
best of his brilliant powers and loving 
heart to the flock, whom he served in 
season and out of season, desiring to 
spend and be spent for all. In spirit 
and in work, he was an ardent mis- 
sionary and loved the Church's cause. 
Few have aroused in others a deeper 
love of missions than this beloved 
Father in God, who kept this great 
duty and greater privilege constantly 
before his people. He gave and did 
much for missions and much is owing 
to the Board of Missions for assist- 
ance received in the diocese. His peo- 
ple had every reason to love him ; tact- 
ful, patient, generous and charitable, 
he snared many sorrows, but he al- 
ways gave out sunshine. He started 
his work with one diocese in the state* 
and left two, but he left in his life and 
service a benediction to both which 
time has not and cannot efface. 

IV. Later Years 

For a period of seventy-two years 
Kentucky had but two diocesans, 
namely, Bishop Smith and Bishop 
Dudley. On the death of Bishop Dud- 
ley the diocese made choice of the 
Reverend John Gardner Murray, 
D.D., who declined his election. Later 
the Reverend Arthur Selden Lloyd, 
D.D., was elected, who also declined. 
At the council held November 16, 
1904, the Reverend Charles E. Wood- 
cock, D.D., rector of Saint John's 
Church, Detroit, was chosen as bishop 
and was consecrated January 25, 1905. 



203 




INDIAN FIELDS, NEAR LEXINGTON 
Noted as a highzvay for the early pioneers 



From the death of Bishop Dudley to 
the present time progress has been 
made, but not all the attainment that 
ardent hope desires. To be satisfied, 
would be to stagnate ; but to despair 
would be to give way to failure. The 
same limitations exist as heretofore. 
Kentucky never has been fortunate in 
profiting by removals of Churchmen to 
the state and the additions from this 
source are negligible. 

Some new missions have been 
established and some old ones, for 
reasons which justified the course, 
have been given up. The number of 
self-supporting parishes has increased. 
Contributions to general missions have 
increased four-fold. 

A much needed addition has been 
made in providing a home for the 
nurses of the training school of the 
Norton Infirmary. This is a com- 
modious and necessary equipment, ac- 
commodating over sixty nurses. One 
of the most useful and helpful of our 
institutions is the Girl's Friendly Inn, 
established in 1911, which provides a 
home under Christian and refining in- 
fluences, for sixty-three young women 
engaged in various employments. 
This is a home rather than an institu- 
tion, and in a field all its own, is un- 
surpassed in its practical and benevo- 
lent work by any of the institutions of 
the diocese. 

The greater part of the diocese still 
remains a missionary field and will 



continue as such for many years to 
come. Much of this work will remain 
slow in development. At times it 
seems impossible, for there are still 
many counties in which no service of 
the Church is held. But when we are 
face to face with difficult things, the 
time to stop is not when things are 
hardest, that is the time to stick and 
to toil. It is well to remember, in the 
midst of difficulty, that "the only dif- 
ference between the possible and the 
impossible is that the impossible takes 
a little longer". Whatever difficulty 
there may be gives employment to 
faith if accepted as a trust. There 
always will be difficulties, but it is 
one thing to go about things as God's 
errands and quite another thing to ac- 
cept them as discouragements. Dis- 
couragements are often the result of 
want of faith. Missionary work of- 
fers no opportunity to those who love 
God so little and so timidly as to be 
afraid to face and to do hard things. 

What I have said in brief as to 
progress in the diocese of Kentucky 
since the state was divided into two 
dioceses is equally true of the dio- 
cese of Lexington. The conditions 
throughout the state are very much 
the same. The scattered population 
and the sometimes difficult means of 
transportation make many of our 
problems those of the missionary dis- 
trict, but as time goes on we see re- 
sults of the labor and work, and the 




THE MISSION HOUSE AT PROCTOR 
Formerly a tavern in stage-coach days, Bishop Dudley converted it into the first of our 

churches in Lee county 



influence of the Church is constantly 
growing. 

We dare not raise the question, "Do 



missions pay: if we attempt to 
measure the results, we shall meet 
with discouragement. We have noth- 
ing to do with the results, but we have 
a great deal to do with duty and priv- 
ilege. The work never will fail for 
want of opportunity, but it may fail 



for want of faith and courage in us. 
Missions are as necessary to us to 
prove our own conversion and to keep 
us fit for God's uses, as they are nec- 
essary to win souls to Jesus Christ. 
To be a Christian is synonymous with 
being a missionary. One cannot be 
a Christian and not a missionary. 
The next greatest thing to creating a 
soul is to help save a soul. 



CLASS WORK 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

THE Life of Daniel Boone will furnish 
a romantic background for the story 
of the state. Of Church history there 
is not much available to the general pub- 
lic except what is contained in the above 
article. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 
Tell the class the story of Daniel Boone. 
Tell them also of Bishop Brownell's jour- 
neys (see the June Spirit of Missions) so 
that they may understand the conditions 
which the first bishops had to face. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. Prior to 1829 

1. What noted pioneers were the firsl 
settlers? 

2. What warfare retarded the develop- 
ment of the state? 

3. Who was the first clergyman? 



II. The Formation of the Diocese 

1. What two bishops made visitations in 
Kentucky in 1829? 

2. When was the diocese organized? 

3. By whom and where was the first 
ordination held? 

4. Who was the first bishop of 'Kentucky? 

III. Bishop Dudley 

1. How old was Bishop Dudley when he 
was consecrated? 

2. Tell of his work. 

3. When did he die? 

IV. Later Years 

1. How many bishops did Kentucky have 
'in seventy-two years? 

2. Who is the present bishop? 

3. What new diocese was made out of 
•half the state? What is it called? 

4. Who is the bishop of Lexington? 



PUBLISHED BY MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 5 CENTS. 



205 



3|oto #ur CfmrcJ) Came to ®uv Country 



XXXIV. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME 
TO LOUISIANA 

By the Reverend Gardiner L. Tucker 



L Earliest Days of the Church 

WHEN our Church came to 
Louisiana, immediately after 
Louisiana became a part of 
the United States, it found a trans- 
planted section of La Belle France. 
In the year 1682 the French-Canadian 
LaSalle came down the Mississippi 
River from Canada, and standing on 
the desolate bank of the stream, not 
far from the present site of New Or- 
leans, took possession of the great 
Valley of the River, north, east, south 
and west, in the name of the King of 
France. . Fie named the River St. 
Louis, and the country Louisiana. 

Thirty-six years after that, in 1718, 
and just two even centuries before 
the writing of this article, another 
French-Canadian, Jean Baptiste Le 
Moyne, known to history as Bienville, 
founded the city of New Orleans, in 
order to secure for France the political 
and commercial mastery of the River 
and the Valley. 

For nearly one hundred years the 
people, language, law, customs, ideals, 
and religion of the territory now com- 
prised in the State of Louisiana were 
French. Between 1762 and 1803 
Louisiana was a possession of Spain 
— but the main current of French life 
was only slightly tinged by any Span- 
ish influence. 

In 1803 Louisiana was transferred 
back to France, and by Napoleon sold 
to the United States — not only the 
present State of Louisiana, but the 
whole vast empire of the Louisiana 
Purchase, one million square miles or 



more, extending to the Rockies and to 
the Canadian border. 

The rest of the Purchase quickly 
became American. In the northern 
part of the present State of Louisiana, 
and in the "Florida parishes" east of 
the Mississippi River, the American 
element quickly predominated. But 
New Orleans, the Lower Coast of the 
Mississippi, and the bayou country to 
the westward — the most typical part 
of Louisiana — retains much of its 
French flavor to this day. In some 
parts of "down-town" New Orleans, 
and in many places in the bayou coun- 
try where the Acadians, of romantic 
history, settled, French is still the lan- 
guage of the home among large num- 
bers of the people. 

So when the Church came to Loui- 
siana it came to a French common- 
wealth. The French law (today the 
basis of Louisiana law), the French 
language, the French customs and 
ideals, and the Roman Catholic 
Church, form the background of 
Louisiana history both sacred and 
secular. 

Under French and Spanish domina- 
tion the only public worship was 
Roman Catholic. It is interesting to 
note, however, that ideals of religious 
freedom were at any rate strong 
enough to prevent the establishment of 
the Inquisition in Louisiana, even 
under the rule of a Spanish governor. 
When a commissary of the Inquisi- 
tion arrived from Spain, in the latter 
part of the eighteenth century, armed 
with the terrors of the "Holy Office", 
and prepared his dungeons and in- 



200 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



struments of torture in the old Cala- 
boza or jail, the Spanish governor 
himself had the monk arrested, and 
sent him back to Spain. 

The problem to be worked out in 
Louisiana (not yet solved completely) 
was the Americanization of a Latin 
Commonwealth. The spiritual ideals 
of Louisiana were Catholic of the 
Roman type and therefore anti-Prot- 
estant. American life elsewhere was 
inevitably individualistic, Protestant 
of a type generally anti-Catholic. The 
Church in Louisiana has never been 
inconsistent with the character it took 
from the beginning. It has never 
made any apologies for its Protestant- 
ism; it has never made any com- 
promise as to its Catholicity. It is 
"Protestant Catholic" today, as at the 
beginning. 

It seems providential, therefore, 
that the first church of American 
foundation in Louisiana was Protest- 
ant Episcopal, able to present the 
spiritual freedom of Protestantism as 
not contradictory to the spiritual unity 
of Catholicity ; able to be, as we hope 
and believe, in the fulness of the times 
the Church of the Reconciliation of 
all Christendom both Protestant and 
Catholic. 

About eighteen months after the 
transfer of Louisiana to the United 
States, a meeting of Protestant citi- 
zens of New Orleans was held in that 
city. At this and subsequent meetings 
it was determined that a Protestant 
clergyman should be obtained "to come 
and reside in the city and preach the 
Gospel," and that a place of worship 
should be built. A vote was taken to 
determine the religious denomination 
of the clergyman who should be in- 
vited. The vote stood: "For an 
Episcopalian, forty-five; Presbyterian, 
seven; Methodist, one." In a letter 
written to Bishop Moore, of New 
York, it was stated that the support- 
ers of the new church were not only 
"of his own persuasion, but Presby- 
terians, Catholics, etc." 



Bishop Moore appointed the Rev- 
erend Philander Chase, one of the 
Church's great pioneers. He was 
afterward to blaze the trail and lay 
the foundations in the Middle West, 
first as Bishop of Ohio, then of Il- 
linois. He entered upon the work of 
rector in New Orleans in 1806, or- 
ganized the parish, and, in addition 
to the duties of his rectorship, opened 
a school. No church was built in his 
time, nor until 1816. He held serv- 
ices in various public buildings, stores, 
and private houses. In 1811 he re- 
signed and left Louisiana. 

The Church in Louisiana, as in the 
colonies of the Atlantic seaboard, was 
a "denatured" sort of institution for 
the first period of its history. For a 
quarter of a century it never saw one 
of its own bishops. In fact, in 1805 
there were only six bishops, of whom 
the nearest lived in Virginia. In 1830, 
when Bishop Brownell of Connecticut 
finally visited Louisiana, there were 
only eleven bishops of the American 
Episcopal Church. Bishop Brownell, 
as one of the youngest and most ac- 
tive, undertook a long and arduous 
trip to the southern country, includ- 
ing N^w Orleans, consecrated Christ 
Church, and administered confirmation 
to a class of sixty-four. He came 
again in 1834, and again in 1836. 

"Old Christ Church", after several 
removals, finally was located on the 
site it was to occupy for forty years. 
In 1847 a handsome Gothic structure 
was erected on the corner of Canal 
and Dauphine Streets (on the site now 
occupied by the huge Maison Blanche 
Department store). There it stood as 
a landmark of the city, and a wit- 
ness to Christ on the city's principal 
thoroughfare and at the very heart 
of its life, until in 1886 the new Christ 
Church, soon afterwards made the 
pro-cathedral, was built in the resi- 
dence district "uptown". Among the 
men associated with the origin of 
Christ Church were several prominent 
figures in the life of the territory, in- 



207 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



eluding John McDonogh (Presbyte- 
rian), afterward the great benefactor 
of the New Orleans public schools, 
Edward Livingston, lawyer and states- 
man, W. C. C. Claiborne, territorial 
governor and first governor of the 
state. 

In this "pre-Episcopal" period two 
other parishes were organized for per- 
manent existence. Grace Church, 
Saint Francisville, was organized by a 
group of Churchmen in the cotton 
plantation country, and Saint Paul's, 
New Orleans, was organized. These 
three took steps to organize the dio- 
cese of Louisiana, and after efforts 
made in 1830 and 1835 failed, they 
effected this organization in 1838. 

During this period, about 1830, there 
was established a congregation of 
French-speaking Protestants. In 1835 
this congregation, under the name of 
UEglise de la Resurrection, Nouvelle 
Orleans, was admitted into union with 
the diocesan convention. This congre- 
gation afterward dissolved, but later 
another was admitted under the title 
of UEglise Protestante Francaise. 
This continued to maintain itself for 
some time. Later it withdrew from 
union with the convention and pursued 
an independent life, but soon dis- 
persed. 

II. Leonidas Polk, Bishop, Sol- 
dier and Statesman 

In 1835 there came a great mission- 
ary awakening in the Church when 
it was proclaimed that every member 
is by virtue of baptism a member of 
the Missionary Society, and when 
Jackson Kemper, "bishop of all out- 
doors", was sent into the Northwest 
as the first missionary bishop of the 
Church in America. Three years later 
Leonidas Polk was consecrated as a 
missionary bishop, with a territory de- 
serving the title of "all outdoors" not 
less than Kemper's. His charge in- 
cluded Arkansas, Indian Territory, 




THE CABILDO, NEW ORLEANS 

The municipal building in which the first services 
of the Church were held by Philander Chase 



Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and 
the republic of Texas. As Texas was 
then a foreign country, Bishop Polk 
may be called the first foreign mission- 
ary bishop of our Church. 

The first bishop of Louisiana was 
a notable man, a soldier, a statesman, 
a great founder and organizer, a man 
fitted for high leadership. He was 
trained at West Point for the army. 
During his cadet days he was con- 
verted to Christ and was baptized in 
the academy chapel by the chaplain 
(afterwards Bishop Mcllvaine of 
Ohio). Polk was the first cadet ever 




CHRIST CHURCH, NEW ORLEANS 

This is the second Christ Church. No picture is 

extant of the first building 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



known to kneel during the chapel serv- 
ices at West Point. 

From his home in Columbia, Ten- 
nessee, Bishop Polk started out to 
traverse and survey his immense field. 
For six months he journeyed, chiefly 
on horseback, often in rude vehicles, 
in river craft of various kinds, some- 
times on foot, through pathless for- 
ests, open prairies, dangerous swamps 
and swollen streams — visiting every 
community and many lonely dwell- 
ings where the children of the Church 
were to be found; gathering congre- 
gations, holding services, preaching, 
baptizing, confirming, celebrating the 
Holy Communion wherever he could 
find the opportunity. 

Once he traveled on a steamboat 
bound for Shreveport, Louisiana. The 
steamer struck a snag and sank and 
the captain was about to abandon it 
when the bishop suggested a plan for 
raising it. The plan succeeded, but, 
meanwhile, the bishop boarded an- 
other passing steamer and went on to 
Shreveport. After visiting a colony 
of Churchmen near by, the bishop 
tried to arrange a service in the town. 
This was opposed. "We have never 
had any preaching here, and we don't 
want any," the people said. Finally, 
after a travelling companion of the 
bishop had put up a guarantee against 
damage in the sum of $600, a vacant 
house was rented. A mob of rafts- 
men and other rowdies sent word that 
they would break up the meeting. The 
bishop went calmly ahead with his 
preparations by getting a table, cov- 
ering it with white cloth and laying 
his Bible thereon, while his friend 
rang a handbell through town to give 
notice of the service. The congrega- 
tion gathered, and so did the mob that 
had promised to break up the meeting. 
At the last moment the sunken steamer 
which the bishop had helped to raise 
came into port and the crew rushed 
to the rescue. They declared that the 
bishop was "no common preacher". 
He knew how to work, and they would 



like to see any one who would hinder 
him from preaching if he wished to 
do so! 

In the two years of his missionary 
episcopate the bishop made three such 
journeys throughout his territory. In 
1841 he bought a plantation on Bayou 
Lafourche, in the sugar country west 
of New Orleans, and removed there. 
In the same year he resigned his mis- 
sionary episcopate and was elected 
bishop of Louisiana. 

In the nearly forty years since the 
Purchase there had been great de- 
velopment in Louisiana. In 1792 
Whitney invented the cotton-gin. In 
1796 Etienne de Bore, a Louisiana 
planter, invented the process for mak- 
ing sugar out of the juice of the 
sugar-cane. These two inventions 
made possible the great development 
of the cotton and the sugar industry. 
For the raising of cotton and sugar 
the fertile alluvial soil of Louisiana 
is unmatched perhaps in all the world. 
It came to be spoken of as a sort of 
"El Dorado". Immigrants came in 
and^ great plantations were built up, 
raising cotton in the more northerly 
sections, sugar in the more southerly. 

These plantations were cultivated 
by slave labor. Some of the new peo- 
ple brought their slaves with them. 
Some came from as far as Pennsyl- 
vania and brought their slaves with 
them.^ There had been slaves in 
Louisiana since 1719, the year after 
the founding of New Orleans. In the 
years from 1810 to 1850 the Negro 
population of Louisiana ranged from 
fifty to sixty per cent, of the entire 
population of the state. 

///. Meeting Great Problems 

Bishop Polk gave much of his time 
and thought to the question which is 
still the South's great problem. He 
was himself a slaveholder. , On his 
plantation in Tennessee he and other 
members of the Polk family built a 
pretty brick church, still standing, for 



20!) 






BISHOP POLK 



BISHOP WILMER 



BISHOP GALLEHER 



his family and his "people", where by 
far the largest part of the congrega- 
tion was composed of the Negro 
slaves of the Polk families. When he 
came to Louisiana he made his home, 
not in New Orleans, but on Bayou 
Lafourche, on Leighton Plantation, a 
few miles from Thibodaux. His wife 
had just inherited a considerable 
estate from her mother, and she had 
the choice of taking her share in money 
or in slaves. The bishop's decision 
was to take the slaves. He felt that 
as Louisiana was distinctively a plan- 
tation state, he could best exercise in- 
fluence in a community of planters, 
if he himself were a planter. His mis- 
sion was to the servant as well as to 
the master; and he believed that an 
example of dutiful care of his own 
people on his own estate would be the 
best possible exposition of the duty 
of the master to the slave. So he 
brought his four hundred Negroes to 
Bayou Lafourche. When he was at 
home on Sundays he had his colored 
Sunday-school in his own house in 
the afternoon, the classes being taught 
by the chaplain he commissioned for 
this special work, and by the members 
of his own family. Throughout the 
diocese he insisted on the spiritual 
care of the servants. On Bayou La- 
fourche, where he had a special chap- 
lain for the colored work, there were 
at one time many more colored com- 
municants of the Church than white. 



All the old parish registers of Loui- 
siana record the baptisms of the slaves. 
All the old plantation churches had 
galleries for the Negroes. 

It is important to record, in this 
place, that Bishop Polk's concern for 
the welfare of the Negroes had no 
little to do with the greatest of all 
his plans and undertakings — the Uni- 
versity of the South. In common with 
all thoughtful Southern men, he looked 
on the Negroes as a sacred trust and 
responsibility committed to the white 
people of the South. He defended 
slavery, in common with most thought- 
ful Southern people, as an institution 




OLD SAINT MATTHEWS, HOUMA 

A typical old church of the sugar plantation 

country 



70 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



which was accomplishing a most 
beneficent result in the slow but sure 
elevation of the subject race. They 
believed that premature emancipation 
would be disastrous to both races ; they 
believed that emancipation ought to 
come, if at all, by process of genera- 
tions. Meanwhile, it was a matter of 
unspeakable importance that the ruling 
race of the South should realize the 
greatness of the trust which had been 
providentially given to them, in the 
care of an ignorant and helpless peo- 
ple, and that tbey should be intellectu- 
ally and morally qualified to fulfill 
it ; and consequently, however great 
the direct advantages of the university 
which he planned might give the white 
race, its indirect benefit to the black 
race he believed would be incompa- 
rably greater in the years that were to 
follow. 

The strength and comprehensive- 
ness of Bishop Polk's work in found- 
ing and organizing the Church in 
Louisiana is shown by the fact that 
nearly eighty per cent, of the parishes 
in the diocese, today, date their organ- 
ization in the period of his episcopate. 
Some of the Church folk of that day 
were of old Church families in the 
East. One family, living on the Mis- 
sissippi River, came from Pennsyl- 
vania ; an infant son was carried all 
the way back to Philadelphia that he 
might be baptized by Bishop White. 
Bishop Polk first sought out these old 
Church families, naturally; but many 
of the organizers of the old Louisiana 
parishes had been of all faiths, or of 
none. Some had come to the new 
country "to get away from religion''. 
In 1861, after twenty years as dioc- 
esan, Bishop Polk's work resulted 
in an increase of church buildings 
from three to thirty-three ; of con- 
gregations from six to forty-seven of 
whites and of more than thirty others 
of colored persons; of clergy, from 
six to thirty-two ; of communicants, 
from 222 to 1,859. The congregations 



of colored persons included 3,600 
persons. 

Bishop Polk's ideal for his diocese 
was that every parish should also have 
its school. There were practically no 
public schools in Louisiana till 1845, 
when John McDonogh's princely be- 
quest enabled the city of New Orleans 
to begin the construction of an ade- 
quate public school system for that 
city. In the rest of the state public 
education lagged until long after the 
Civil War. Under the bishop's stim- 
ulus many parish and private schools 
were organized throughout the dio- 
cese. Parochial schools were con- 
ducted in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, 
Jackson, Natchitoches, Carrollton, 
Monroe, Alexandria, Thibodaux, and 
fhere were others more or less under 
Episcopal supervision. 

His great educational plan, how- 
ever, was the University of the South. 
In collaboration with Bishop Otey of 
Tennessee and Bishop Stephen Elliott 
of Georgia, he worked out plans for 
a great university for the young men 
of the South, which would have been, 
if the plans had been carried out, one 
of America's greatest institutions of 
learning. The gist of the idea was 
that education must be Christian, or 
it is not really education, but mis- 
education. The University of- the 
South was to be an institution of 
Christian education, to train its stu- 
dents not only in mind but in char- 
acter, to equip them for a leadership 
in the South and in the nation, not 
only intellectual but high-minded. Its 
control was put in the hands of the 
Southern Dioceses of the Church. 

A magnificent domain of nearly ten 
thousand acres was secured at Se- 
wanee, Tennessee. An endowment of 
$3,000,000 was planned, and in the 
first campaign, half a million dollars 
was secured, principally from Loui- 
siana On October 9, 1860, Bishop 
Polk laid the cornerstone of the uni- 
versity at Sewanee, on the present 
site. 






How Our Church Came to Our Country 



271 



IV. Destruction and Recon- 
struction 

The story of the founding of the 
Church in Louisiana ends in apparent 
failure. The great apostle, organizer 
and founder lived to see most of his 
work go to pieces, so far as human 
eye could discern. 

When the Civil War broke out 
President Davis voiced a general de- 
mand that Bishop Polk should place 
his military training, his extensive 
knowledge of the Mississippi Valley 
region and his powers of leadership 
at the service of his state and his 
new country, the Confederate States 
of America. Believing this to be God's 
call of duty he accepted the commis- 
sion of Major General in the Con- 
federate Army on July 25, 1861. 

The hope Bishop Polk cherished 
throughout his term of military serv- 
ice that the need for him in the army 
was temporary, and that he might 
soon resign his commission and re- 
turn to his pastoral work, was never 
fulfilled. On June 14, 1864, at the 
battle of Pine Mountain, in Georgia, 
a cannon-shot struck him in the breast 
and killed him instantly. 

Meanwhile, the Federal Army, 
under General Butler, took possession 
of New Orleans on May 1, 1862. Dr. 
Leacock, rector of Christ Church, Dr. 
Goodrich, rector of Saint Paul's, and 
Dr. Fulton, rector of Calvary Church, 
were prevented from holding their 
services, and were ordered out of the 
city for refusing to offer prayer in 
the public service "for the President 
of the United States and all in civil 
authority". In the country some of 
the clergy and most of the laymen 
were in the Confederate Army. Part 
of the state was occupied by Federal 
troops, part was fought over. As 
Bishop Polk relinquished all Episcopal 
duties when he accepted his military 
commission, the diocese practically had 
no bishop from 1861 to the end of 
1866. The Council did not meet, and, 




CHRIST CHURCH, NAPOLEONVILLE 

Consecrated by Bishop Polk in 1854, this church 

was almost completely destroyed in the Civil War. 

It was rebuilt in 1869 



therefore, Louisiana never formally 
entered the Church in the Confederate 
States as did most of the Southern 
dioceses. Some of the churches were 
in ruins at the close of the war. 
When Bishop Wilmer entered upon 
his work after the war he said, "It 
may safely be asserted that no por- 
tion of the Church in the South 
emerges from this war so bereft and 
desolate as the Church in Louisiana." 

The splendid work Bishop Polk did 
among the Negroes seemed to become 
fruitless. After the war the Negroes 
remaining in the Episcopal Church 
were very few. And as for the mag- 
nificent University ! 

In 1863 Bishop Polk passed with his 
army corps in retreat over the moun- 
tain and the university domain. The 
Federal troops had been there before 
him and there was nothing left. Even 
the cornerstone, laid by the bishop's 
own hands in 1860, had been blown 
to pieces, and the fragments carried 
away as souvenirs by the Federal 
soldiers ! 



How Our Church Game to Our Country 



So the story of the Church's com- 
ing to Louisiana ends in tragedy and 
apparent failure. 

How the Church came back in 
Louisiana ; how the gentle and saintly 
Bishop Wilmer nursed it through the 
dark period of the Reconstruction, in 
some respects worse than the Civil 
War; how under Bishop Galleher 
growth and constructive activity be- 
came vigorous again ; how under 
Bishop Sessums the strength of the 
Church in Louisiana has been de- 
veloped along lines of sane and con- 
servative progress for more than a 



quarter of a century — these later chap- 
ters of the Church in Louisiana can- 
not be told here. 

Suffice it to say, that the work of 
the pioneers was not for naught. The 
diocese today is the inheritor of all 
their faith and steadfastness and labor 
of love. The spiritual foundations 
laid by the dauntless soldier-bishop 
were not really destroyed, though 
tested by fire. Now, after half a cen- 
tury, the true greatness of his states- 
manlike vision and apostolic labor are 
more and more manifesting and prov- 
ing themselves. 



CLASS WORK 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

THE History of the Diocese of Loui- 
siana, by Dr. H. C. Duncan, and 
Leonidas Polk, Bishop and General, by 
his son, the late Dr. Polk of New York, 
cover the whole ground of early Church 
history. The opening chapter of The Con- 
quest of the Continent, Burleson, tells how 
Louisiana became a part of the United 
States, and The Grandissimes, by George 
Cabot, gives an interesting picture of the 
social life of New Orleans when it was 
passing from under French rule. 



THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Ask if anyone knows how the state of 
Louisiana received its name. How was 
New Orleans named? Tell the class to look 
at the map and notice how nearly all the 
names in the southern part of the state are 
French. Tell also about the sugar planta- 
tions and cotton fields which could only be 
worked with the help of Negroes. Explain 
that in those days many of the best men in 
the nation were owners of slaves and spent 
a great deal of time and care on their 
physical wellbeing and religious instruction. 

TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. Earliest Days of the Church. 

1. To what countries did Louisiana first 
belong? 

2. When and how did it become a part 
of the United States? 



3. Who were the first clergyman and the 
first bishop of our Church to visit Loui- 
siana ? 

4. Which was the first parish? 

II. Leonidas Polk, Bishop, Soldier and 

Statesman. 

1. Tell about Bishop Polk's early life. 

2. For what immense field was he conse- 
crated ? 

3. Describe some incidents of his jour- 
neys. 

4. When was he elected Bishop of Loui- 
siana ? 

III. Meeting Great Problems. 

1. What was the great problem of the 

South? 

2. How did Bishop Polk care for his 

slaves ? 

3. In what other great movement was he 

interested? 

4. What university was he chiefly instru- 
mental in founding? 

IV. Destruction and Reconstruction. 

1. What part did Bishop Polk take in the 
Civil War? 

2. How and when did he die? 

3. What happened to the University of 
the South? 

4. Who v 
f Louisian 

5. Who is the present bishop ? 



4. Who were the second and third bishops 
of Louisiana? 



PUBLISHED BY MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING CO., MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 5 CENTS. 



273 




XXXV. HOW OUR CHURCH CAME TO TEXAS 

By the Reverend Alfred W . S. Garden 
Secretary of the Province of the Southwest 



I. Undivided Texas 

TEXAS has had a most unique 
and interesting history. She has 
passed under no less than six flags — 
French, Spanish, Mexican, Republic 
of Texas, American, Confederate, and 
at last the Stars and Stripes again. 
The names of her rivers and many 
of her towns tell of former Spanish or 
Mexican rule. Her heroic struggle for 
liberty and democracy, which was 
finally achieved on the battle-field of 
San Jacinto, makes one of the most 
interesting and thrilling chapters of 
American history. 

The story of missionary endeavor 
stretches over a period of more than 
two hundred years. The Franciscan 
monks followed ever close in the foot- 
steps of the explorer and colonist, 
setting up the cross of Christ beside 
the banner of Spain, upon whatever 
shore they touched. The ruins of 
their missions are dotted all over the 
country, and particularly around San 
Antonio; one of these being the his- 
toric Alamo, "the cradle of Texas 
liberty". The Indians for whom they 
were founded are gone, but the silent 
walls still tell of the faith and zeal of 
the builders. The Spanish mission pe- 
riod in Texas lasted just one .hundred 
years from the first, founded by the 
ill-fated LaSalle on the Lavaca river 
in 1690, to the last at Refugio in 1790. 
The California mission period began 
as ours closed. 

There has been recently found, near 
the mouth of the Lavaca river, the 



rude iron cross, some four or five feet 
high, set up by LaSalle on his first 
landing. It is evidently the work of 
the rough ship blacksmith or armourer, 
and has cut upon it the letters "M. S.," 
probably signifying "Maria Santis- 
sima". This cross is now over the 
porch of Grace Church, Port Lavaca. 

Fifty years elapsed ere our Church 
entered upon the scene. During this 
period settlers of Anglo-Saxon heri- 
tage poured into Texas and established 
colonies at various points. Chafing 
under the tyrannical and intolerable 
domination of the Mexican govern- 
ment, they finally broke the yoke of 
bondage, and established the independ- 
ent Republic of Texas (the "Lone 
Star State") in 1836. Immediately 
the Church took steps to minister to 
the spiritual needs of these people, and 
in 1838 the Reverend Leonidas Polk 
was consecrated and sent out to be the 
bishop of Arkansas and the Republic 
of Texas. Thus he became in fact the 
first bishop to be sent out by our Board 
of Missions to a foreign missionary 
field. 

With Bishop Polk came the Rever- 
end C. S. Ives to Matagorda, the Rev- 
erend W. Chapman and later the Rev- 
erend Charles Gillette to Houston, and 
the Reverend Benjamin Eaton to Gal- 
veston. The wonderful endurance 
and splendid self-sacrifice of these 
sturdy pioneers of the gospel would 
make one of the most interesting 
stories of the Church's history. Thir- 
ty-three years later Dr. Eaton was 
preaching to his congregation in Trin- 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




BISHOP R. W. B. ELLIOTT 

ity Church, Galveston, on the short- 
ness and uncertainty of life. In the 
course of his remarks he said, "The 
angel of death is in our midst at this 
very moment. I feel his icy breath 
upon me as I speak." He paused, 
looked earnestly at the congregation 
and then fell lifeless where he stood. 

In 1844 Bishop Polk was trans- 
ferred to Louisiana and was suc- 
ceeded by Bishop George W. Free- 
man as bishop of Arkansas and the 
Southwest. 

In 1845 Texas was annexed to the 
United States. Thus the lone star of 
the infant republic went down, not in 
defeat or gloom, but to rise again as 
one of the brightest in the constella- 
tion of the Union. Texas came into 
the United States with an empire for 
her dower, stretching from the Rio 
Grande and the Gulf of Mexico to the 
southeast corner of the old Oregon 
territory. In 1849 Texas was organ- 
ized into a diocese at Matagorda and 
Bishop Freeman was elected the first 
diocesan, but he declined on account 
of approaching age and infirmity. 



In 1850 Texas sold to the United 
States 100,000 square miles of her ter- 
ritory, from which have been erected, 
in part, the states of Wyoming, Utah, 
Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, and 
Oklahoma. This territory all be- 
longed to the original diocese of Texas. 
When Bishop Freeman declined the 
election as diocesan he consented to 
act as provisional bishop until another 
should be chosen. Four elections were 
held before a bishop was secured. The 
first choice was Arthur Cleveland 
Coxe of Baltimore, afterward the 
bishop of Western New York, then 
Dr. Alexander H. Vinton of Boston, 
then Dr. Sullivan Weston, an assist- 
ant in Trinity Church, New York, and 
finally Alexander Gregg of Cheraw, 
South Carolina, who was consecrated 
to be the first bishop of the diocese of 
Texas in October, 1859, just ten years 
after its organization. The following 
sketch of the administration of Bishop 
Gregg is from the pen of the late Dean 
Richardson of San Antonio, and gives 
an idea of the statesmanship and 
character of the man under whom the 
real foundations of the Church in 
Texas were laid and to whom we owe 
a debt of gratitude for his life of won- 
derful service. 

Bishop Gregg was a man of schol- 
arly attainments, of exceeding humility 
and simplicity of character, yet with a 
dignity which none thought of ques- 
tioning. He was sympathetic and loyal 
to his clergy, and truly a father to his 
flock. Pastoral visiting was one of his 
specially strong points. He made it his 
rule, possible under conditions then, but 
impossible now, to visit every member 
of the Church in every parish and mis- 
sion station. Then he knew every one, 
and every one knew him. He came as 
near being like the Master in knowing 
his sheep and calling them by their 
names as you could conceive to be pos- 
sible. But it was a day of small things — 
twenty, thirty or fifty perhaps at the 
outside was the number of communi- 
cants in any one place. We can under- 
stand then the sense of physical relief 
with which he would take his place in 
the old-fashioned Concord stage-coach 






2 



s/5 




SAINT MARY'S COLLEGE, DALLAS 



for a fifty or hundred-mile journey, 
night and day, to his next parish or 
mission, and throw himself back in his 
seat with a sigh of relief, exclaiming 
"now for a good rest!" 

Shortly after Bishop Gregg's arrival 
came on the war of secession, April, 
1861. The bishop was intensely loyal 
to the cause of the South, yet none 
was quicker than he to see, when the 
Southern cause failed and the Union 
was to be restored, the inevitable con- 
sequence that the corollary of the res- 
toration of the union in the state was 
the restoration of the union in the 

Church also Such was the part 

that Texas played, under the guidance 
of Bishop Gregg, in the maintaining of 
that unity which has been the crowning 
glory of our Church in this country. 

Ere five years had passed after the 
close of the war the work of the 
Church in Texas had developed, and 
the population of the state had in- 
creased so much that Bishop Gregg felt 
the need of additional episcopal over- 
sight, and he applied to the General 
Convention for the setting off of one 
or more missionary districts from the 
vast territory under his care. At first 
the suggestion met with much opposi- 
tion because such a plan was looked 
upon by many as unconstitutional and 
no precedent existed for making a 
missionary district of the General 
Church out of territory included in an 
organized diocese. But after nine 
years of untiring effort the amendment 



was at last carried, and the General 
Convention of 1874 established the two 
missionary jurisdictions of Northern 
and Western Texas. The Reverend 
Alexander Garrett of Omaha, who has 
justly been styled the "Chrysostom of 
the American Church", was elected as 
bishop of Northern Texas, and the 
Reverend Robert Barnwell Elliott of 
Atlanta was chosen for Western 



IK 




BISHOP GARRETT 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




BISHOP JOHNSTON 

Texas. Bishop Gregg retained juris- 
diction of the mother diocese of Texas, 
which comprised the territory east of 
the Colorado river. 

//. Texas 

After the setting apart of these mis- 
sionary districts Bishop Gregg visited 
each of them once, the occasion of his 
visit to Western Texas being the con- 
secration in 1875 of Saint Mark's Ca- 
thedral in San Antonio, of which he 
had laid the corner stone sixteen years 
before. So it was in all the years of 
Bishop Gregg's faithful and devoted 
work for the Church and Her people. 
He never let anything keep him from 
his regular round of pastoral visita- 
tions, and the Church in the diocese 
of Texas grew in strength and influ- 
ence until his health began to fail in 
the fall and winter of 1890-91, when 
he felt obliged to ask the council to 
make/provision for an assistant bishop. 
In December, 1891, after making 
eighteen visitations, Bishop Gregg re- 
turned to his home in Austin for a 
much needed rest, but he had become 



too feeble for continued work, and at 
the urgent request of the standing 
committee he consented to desist from 
further labor. With this action his 
duties as Bishop of Texas came to a 
close. On the eleventh day of July, 
1893, the brave and faithful spirit re- 
turned to its Maker, and thus ended 
an eventful and fruitful episcopate of 
nearly thirty-five years. 

In May, 1892, the diocesan council 
met and elected the Reverend George 
Herbert Kinsolving of Philadelphia as 
bishop-coadjutor. He was consecrated 
during the meeting of the General 
Convention in Baltimore the following 
autumn, and proceeded at once to 
Texas . to take up the active duties 
that had become too heavy for the en- 
feebled shoulders of his chief. Bishop 
Kinsolving brought to the work in 
Texas rare gifts of leadership and 
scholarship that have made him one of 
the recognized heads of the Church 
throughout this section of the country. 
For the advancement of the state along 
religious and educational lines he has 
been an untiring worker. He was 
the originator of organized religious 
work at the University of Texas, and 
Grace Hall and University Chapel at 
Austin are monuments to his effective 
and far-sighted service in this direc- 
tion. 

With a passionate interest in the 
moral and spiritual welfare of the col- 
ored race he has worked unceasingly 
in their behalf. It is largely through 
his influence that the Church in the 
Province of the Southwest was per- 
suaded to provide for a colored suffra- 
gan, which resulted in the election and 
consecration of Bishop Demby. 

The growth of the diocese during 
Bishop Kinsolving's episcopate has 
again made assistance necessary, and 
at the council of the diocese held last 
May (1918) the Reverend Clinton S. 
Quinn of Houston was elected bishop- 
coadjutor. His consecration took 
place in Houston in October, 1918. 
From the comparatively small begin- 



O My »i 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



nings of twenty-six years ago the 
Church in the diocese of Texas has 
grown until now she has 66 parishes 
and missions, 34 clergy, and nearly 
7,000 communicants. 

///. Northern Texas, Dallas 
and North Texas 

As already noted the General Con- 
vention of 1874 cut off from the dio- 
cese of Texas 100,000 square miles, 
henceforth to be known as the mission- 
ary district of Northern Texas, ex- 
tending from Texarkana on the east 
to New Mexico on the West, and from 
the extreme northern border of the 
state to Brown and Tom Green 
counties in the southwest. Bishop 
Garrett was consecrated in December 
of that year and immediately set out 
for his new field. On his arrival in 
Dallas he found a town of about 4,000 
inhabitants, which was reached by two 
railroads ; the Texas and Pacific from 
Texarkana, and the Houston and 
Texas Central from Houston. These 
were the only railroads in the district 
at that time. Bishop Garrett found on 
arrival but five clergy and a total of 
371 communicants. 

The bishop set out upon his travels 
and began building churches and or- 
ganizing missions. Church buildings 
soon appeared in many places. The 
church found in the city of Dallas 
soon proved inadequate, and a new 
one was begun in 1876, which was used 
for fifteen years, when it was replaced 
by the present beautiful Saint Mat- 
thew's Cathedral in 1895. Other 
churches built in Dallas were the 
Church of the Incarnation, All Saints', 
Christ, Saint Mary's College Chapel, 
and the Chapel for Saint Matthew's 
Home for children. 

In 1895 there were 2,321 communi- 
cants and 20 clergy in the district, and 
the General Convention authorized its 
organization into the diocese of Dallas, 
of which Bishop Garrett was elected 
the first diocesan. 




BISHOP G. H. KINSOLVING 

Recognizing the need of relief, be- 
cause of the advancing years of the 
bishop, the council in May, 1917, 
elected the Reverend Harry T. Moore, 
dean of the cathedral, to be bishop-co- 
adjutor. He was consecrated in Oc- 
tober. Already his vigorous enthusi- 
asm and splendid executive ability are 
making themselves felt throughout the 
diocese. 

Believing that the surest foundations 
of the Church are laid in the charac- 
ter of the young, Bishop Garrett early 
made his plans for the building of a 
girls' school and in 1883 secured a 
suitable site of twenty acres east of 
the city for that purpose. After years 
of intense labor and effort a handsome 
stone building was erected, and in 
1889 Saint Mary's school for girls 
was formally opened. Since then 
many buildings have been added and 
today Saint Mary's College ranks as 
one of the foremost educational insti- 
tutions of the Church. Bishop Gar- 
rett builded wiser than he knew for 
already hundreds, perhaps thousands, 



8 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 



w 




GRACE CHURCH, PORT LAVACA 

Note the La Salle cross over the porch . 

of refined and cultured young women 
have gone forth from her halls, each 
one in her neighborhood as a lamp of 
light and truth, and a witness for the 
Church and Her ways of purity. 

In 1910 the communicants numbered 
4,300, and the General Convention of 
that year cut off 60,000 square miles 
from the northern portion of the dio- 
cese and created the missionary district 
of North Texas, electing the Reverend 
E. A. Temple as its first missionary 
bishop. 

IV. West Texas 

The first mission of our branch of 
the Catholic Church in Western Texas 
was founded in San Antonio in 1850 
by the Reverend J. F. Fish, a United 
States Army chaplain. A diocesan 
missionary society was organized in 
this parish in 1860. The first name 
on the list of its life members was that 
of Lieutenant-Colonel Robt. E. Lee, 
U. S. A., then stationed in San An- 
tonio. 

When Bishop Elliott came to West- 
ern Texas as the first missionary 
bishop, the district was practically 
without railroads, yet there was not 
a point of importance he did not visit. 
His first service was held December 
twentieth, 1874, in a passenger car at 
Luling, which at that time was the 
western terminus of the Southern Pa- 
cific Railroad. 'The town had all the 
'toughness' of a frontier railroad ter- 
minus, and while the bishop was 



preaching, the pistol shots of the 
rough cowboys 'shooting up the town' 
gave more than usual emphasis to his 
periods as, like Paul before Felix, he 
reasoned of righteousness, temperance, 
and the judgment to come." 

No words can possibly convey an 
adequate idea of the splendid heroism 
of this truly remarkable man, or tell 
the real story of the permanent effect 
of Jiis self-sacrifice and work for the 
Church in Western Texas. When he 
arrived in the district he found but 
six churches, three of which were un- 
finished, and two without services. 
Three of these were destroyed by 
cyclone the following year. When 
his work was finished, thirteen years 
later, he left twenty-four churches, 
nine rectories, Saint Mary's Hall in 
San Antonio, and Montgomery Insti- 
tute in Seguin. 

In one of his letters to friends in 
the East he gives a brief account of ] 
his work as follows : 

I started on my visitation, and trav- 
eled forty-eight miles in a buggy. We 
got stuck in a mud-hole and were 
tugged out by a benevolent stranger 
and his horse. Again we got stuck 
in the San Marcos river and could not 
get out before our valises were thor- 
oughly soaked. A round trip of 1,800 
miles is necessary for a visitation to the 
military posts. But to visit a post 
where there has been no service for 
years, to baptize well grown children 
who have waited all their lives for the 
opportunity, to officiate to devout com- 
municants who approach the altar for 
the first time in years, this is work 
meet for thanksgiving; but to say 
farewell, to know that, travel as I may, 
at least a year must pass before I 
return, is hard indeed. 

Traveling overland was dangerous 
on account of the Indians. Robbery 
was probable, and murder not unlikely. 

Bishop Elliott died in 1887 and was 
succeeded the next year by the Right 
Reverend James Steptoe Johnston, ! 
D.D. Like his illustrious predecessor 
he has traveled back and forth over 
this vast territory under conditions of | 
untold hardship, and often of danger. 






How Our Church Came to Our Country 



He has seen the westward march of 
progress bring in the dawn of a bet- 
ter day and he has contributed in no 
small degree to the moral improvement 
that now makes the great Southwest 
one of the most attractive portions of 
the country. 

The best contribution to the citizen- 
ship of this part of the state that the 
Church has been able to make has 
been the development of her diocesan 
schools. In 1865. immediately after 
the close of the war. the Reverend J. 
J. Nicholson, then rector of Saint 
Mark's, San Antonio founded Saint 
Mary's school for girls. It suffered 
many vicissitudes, during the period 
of reconstruction, but was finally es- 
tablished upon a lasting and firm 
foundation by Bishop Elliott in 1879. 

Crowded out by the business de- 
velopment of the downtown district, 
Saint Mary's Hall was removed, three 
years ago, to a more suitable location, 
and is today affiliated with the state 
university and many of the leading col- 
leges of the country. 

In 1893 Bishop Johnston founded 
the West Texas Military Academy for 
boys, and in 1895 established Saint 
Philip's School for colored children. 
Both of these institutions are in a 
flourishing condition. Saint Philip's 
is the only effort of the kind, in be- 
half of the Negroes, that the Church 
is making west of the Mississippi. 

In 1895 the territory west of the 
Pecos river, including the city of El 
Paso, was cut off from the district of 
Western Texas, and attached to the 
missionary district of New Mexico. 

In 1904 the Episcopal Endowment 
Fund was completed by the generous 
and united effort of our own people, 
and Western Texas became by the ac- 
tion of the General Convention of that 
year the diocese of West Texas, with 
the most substantial endowment of any 
diocese in the South. 

In 1914 the council of the diocese 
unanimously elected the Reverend W. 
T. Capers of Philadelphia as bishop- 




■■■':# 




DEAN RICHARDSON 

coadjutor, and he was consecrated in 
Saint Mark's, San Antonio, May, 1914. 
The following year, on the resignation 
of Bishop Johnston, he became the 
third Bishop of West Texas. Possess- 
ing marked qualities of leadership and 
executive ability Bishop Capers has 
made the Church a very real power 
for good throughout the Southwest. 
There are now fifty-six parishes and 
missions, thirty-two clergy, and 4,300 
communicants in the diocese. 

The history of the Church in west- 
ern Texas would be incomplete with- 
out reference to the Reverend W. R. 
Richardson, who for more than forty 
years was connected with Saint Mark's 
as dean and rector. The record of 
the pure life and saintly character of 
this good man is one of the brightest 
in the Church's story. It is not given 
to many to see, still less to possess in 
such degree, and in such combination, 
the strong and beautiful, the sweet- 
ness and light as were united in Wal- 
ter R. Richardson, whose name is still 
a household word in many homes. 

Much has be^n done by the Church 



fe-80 



How Our Church Came to Our Country 




TEXAS 



in the state of Texas, but much re- 
mains to be done. As one looks at 
the accompanying chart and thinks of 
this vast territory with its population 
of over 4,000,000 and its communi- 
cant list numbering less than 17,000, 
one is tempted to ask if, after all, the 
caption of this article ought not to be 
Has Our Church Come to Texas? 
rather than How Our Church Came to 
Texas. It is undoubtedly the Church's 
land of opportunity. The people are 
ready and anxious for the Church's 
message, they are hungry for the sac- 
ramental life of the Church. Bound- 
less possibilities lie open before us — 
the only limitation is in the supply of 
men and means for carrying forward 
the Church's Mission. 



CLASS WORK 



PREPARATION FOR THE LESSON 

SOME books which will be found useful 
are the following : The Territorial 
Growth of the United States, Mowry, The 
Church in the Confederate States, by 
Bishop Cheshire, Leonidas Polk, Bishop 
and General, by his son, William M. Polk, 
M.D. See also The Conquest of the Con- 
tinent, by Bishop Burleson. 

THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES 

Ask the class why Texas is called the Lone 
Star State. Call their attention to the fact 
that, besides being the largest State in the 
Union, Texas is noted for having been a 
separate republic before she became one of 
the United States. 



TEACHING THE LESSON 
I. Undivided Texas. 

1. I low many flags has Texas been 
under? Name them. 

2. When did our Church send a bishop 
to Texas, and whom did they send? 

3. When did Texas become part of the 
United States and who was its first 
diocesan? 

4. Tell about the life of Bishop Gregg. 

5. What two missionary jurisdictions 
were set off from Texas, and when? 



II. Texas. 

1. When did Bishop Gregg die and who 
was his successor? 

2. What sort of work has Bishop Kinsol- 
ving originated? 

3. Who is the bishop-coadjutor of Texas? 

III. Northern Texas, Dallas and North 
Texas. 

1. What change did the General Conven- 
tion of 1874 make in Texas? 

2. When did Northern Texas become a 
diocese and under what name? 

3. What churches were built in Dallas? 

4. Who was the first bishop of Dallas? 
Is he still living? 

5. When was North Texas set off and 
who is its bishop? 

IV. West Texas. 

1. Where was our first mission in Western 
Texas and what noted general was one 
of the parishioners? 

2. Who was the first bishop ? 

3. Give an account of one of his visita- 
tions. 

.4. Tell something of the life of Dean 
Richardson. 

5. Who succeeded Bishop Elliott? 

6. When did Bishop Johnston resign and 
who is now the bishop of West Texas? 



PUBLISHED BY MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING CO. 



MILWAUKEE, WIS. PRICE 5 CENTS. 



?% 'J 



■ G "' 



•0' 



s 



^oo X 






>*\.-- 



A 



e? 









v N 



^ *« 



\r 



W 



v0 



;/% ,#P/ ^%. 



ol 



o 



~x 



^ v< ^> 



^p 



r . 



v 



^ 



?> ■•■,. 









^' **- 



1 
v o 



A. ,r» 









^0 



A ^ 



'A. 'A . 






Kf> 



J 




%< 






X 00 . 











.0^ 



HHHH 



J21 898 






ninrrnUl ulwli 


\S\fmnMMv Iffl 



■JW 

nni 



